Brunsvigia

Brunsvigia Heist. is a South African genus of Amaryllidaceae which grows in semi-arid regions. There are both winter rainfall and summer rainfall species that flower with and without leaves at the time. Some produce amazing floral displays. Brunsvigia was the topic of the week for the Pacific Bulb Society list in January 2003. Click on the link to read Bill Dijk's Introduction. For more information consult the The South African National Biodiversity Institute Brunsvigia page. Cameron McMaster has provided extremely interesting information about this genus in an article he wrote for Farmer's Weekly in 2007.

Jim Lykos, who breeds Amaryllids in Australia, has found that the fertility of Brunsvigia flowers depends on the size of the inflorescence and number of leaves. When the inflorescence has a relatively low number of flowers, it is self-infertile. When it has more flowers, the flowers tend to be self-fertile and are also more likely to cross-breed successfully with other Amaryllid genera. The number of flowers produced in autumn is proportional to the number of leaves produced in the previous growing season.

He also found that the plants will sometimes produce one or two seeds per capsule even when crossed with incompatible pollen. The seeds produced by these crosses are apomixic (clones of the seed parent).

His comments can be read here.

×Amarygia is the name used for hybrids between Amaryllis belladonna and Brunsvigia.

Photos of some of the features of the species are shown below.

Representatives of some of the species are shown below. Information on named species can be found on the wiki pages below or by clicking on the name of the species in the table.

Brunsvigia species
Brunsvigia bosmaniae	Brunsvigia comptonii	Brunsvigia elandsmontana	Brunsvigia gariepensis	Brunsvigia grandiflora	Brunsvigia gregaria
*Brunsvigia gydobergensis	Brunsvigia herrei	Brunsvigia josephinae	Brunsvigia litoralis	Brunsvigia marginata	*Brunsvigia minor
Brunsvigia namaquana	Brunsvigia natalensis	Brunsvigia orientalis	Brunsvigia pulchra	Brunsvigia radula	Brunsvigia radulosa
Brunsvigia sp. Namibia	Brunsvigia striata	Brunsvigia undulata