Eitheais a genus named by Ravenna in 2002 in the Amaryllidaceae family. It contains a single species. At about the same time Julie H. Dutilh and Alan W. Meerow were in the process of naming a new genus Griffiniopsis with potentially two species. One of these species was to be called Griffiniopsis blumenavia or Griffiniopsis blumenavium (it seems to be spelled both ways on the Internet). Since the name Eithea was in print first, it is the accepted name for this genus. This genus is most closely realated to the genus Rhodophiala.
Eithea blumenavia ( K.Koch et C.D.Bouché ex Carrière) Ravenna, first known as Griffinia blumenavia and later Hippeastrum blumenavia is a small, attractive pink and white flowering bulb that grows in moist shady woodland sites in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The first two photos taken August 2003 by Lee Poulsen who grows this the same way as he grows Griffinia: In a very well-draining medium in his humid, unheated pseudo-greenhouse. It goes dormant for him at odd times, not necessarily in the winter. Photos 3-5 from Hans Joschko.
