Hymenocallis amancaes
Judy Glattstein (Mon, 05 Jul 2010 07:37:33 PDT)

From my research notes for "Bulbs for Garden Habitats"

Amancaes

In 1835, on July 19th Charles Darwin made note in his journal, of fields
of amancaes flowering on the desert coastal hills of Peru: “On the hills
near Lima, at a height but little greater, the ground is carpeted with
moss, and beds of beautiful yellow lilies, called Amancaes. This
indicates a very much greater degree of humidity, than at a
corresponding height at Iquique.” Official emblem of the city of Lima,
amancaes used to be found growing wild on the banks of the Rimac River
that flows through the city. Though there is a district of Lima still
known as Pampas of Amancaes, the places where this flower was once so
numerous are now nothing but buildings and city streets. Club Floralíes
de Lima is an organization dedicated to bringing it back. They have
created a preserve called Pachacámac, on land outside of Lima
owned/donated by the Lima Cement Company where this and other native
plants are being reintroduced.

and

My brother, an tenured professor of anthropology who did his doctoral
research in a village above Cuzco (and who speaks both Quechua and
Amara) told me of a song, a vals criollo that mentions H. amancaes. The
lyrics, approximately, go like this:

Elegantly dressed in traditional style, wearing a poncho of white linen,
Jose Antonio is an accomplished horseman, showing fine mastery riding
his horse.
Why, asks the woman, why did he leave her, hoping that when he returns
to see the amancay in bloom he will sweep her up on his horse.

Judy