Amaryllis is a monotypic (only one species) genus of plant containing the Belladonna Lily (Amaryllis belladonna), a native of South Africa. It is often confused with the Hippeastrum, a flowering bulb commonly sold for blooming indoors.

Characteristics

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The Belladonna Lily is a bulbous plant, with each bulb being 5-10 cm in diameter. It has several strap-shaped, dull green leaves, 30-50 cm long and 2-3 cm broad, arranged in two rows. The leaves are produced in the autumn and eventually die down by late spring. The bulb is then dormant until late summer.

In late summer the bulb produces one or two naked stems 30-60 cm tall, each of which bear a cluster of 2 to 12 funnel-shaped flowers at their tops. Each flower is 6-10 cm diameter with six tepals (three outer sepals, three inner petals, with similar appearance to each other), white, pink or purple in colour. This flowering pattern is the cause of its common name "naked lady".

In popular culture

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The Belladonna Lily was introduced into cultivation at the beginning of the 18th century. However, most of the so-called Amaryllis bulbs sold as 'ready to bloom for the holidays' belong to the allied genus Hippeastrum, despite being labeled as 'Amaryllis' by sellers and nurseries. Adding to the name confusion, some bulbs of other species with a similar growth and flowering pattern are also sometimes called "naked ladies", even though those species have their own more widely used and accepted common names, such as the Resurrection Lily (Lycoris squamigera).

Etymology

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The scientific name Amaryllis is taken from a shepherdess in one of Virgil's pastorals, and means any young rustic maiden.

It is sometimes given as a girl's name in modern times.

Asparagales

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