Amana

Amana is a bulbous genus often included in Tulipa in the Liliaceae family. There are three or four species from China, Japan, and Korea. They bloom in spring and look like small white tulips. The main way of telling them apart is by looking at the ovary and the stigma. In Amana the style is elongated. In Tulipa the stigma sits right on top of the ovary.

Amana edulis (Miq.) Honda, syn. Tulipa edulis (Miq.) Baker is a native of Japan, Korea, and Eastern China where it grows on open hillsides. It blooms in early spring bearing several white yellow eyed flowers with a strongly veined reddish-brown exterior. The bulb is vigorously stoloniferous, soon forming a large colony with only sporadic flowering. Photos by John Lonsdale.