Haemanthus carneus

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Haemanthus carneus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Liliopsida Order: Asparagales Family: Amaryllidaceae Genus: Haemanthus Species: H. carneus
Binomial name
Haemanthus carneus Ker Gawl.
Distribution over South Africa

Haemanthus carneus ('carneus': Latin 'flesh-coloured') is a South African bulbous geophyte belonging to the Amaryllidaceae. Despite a fairly wide distribution, it has been collected from only a few scattered sites in the Orange Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape near Grahamstown and Somerset East, occurring between 300 m and 1200 m above sea level.

The bulbs grow in small clumps in the shelter of trees, bushes and rocks. Their tunics are more or less equal with horizontal leaf-scars. Leaves number two or three, usually flat on the ground, appearing with the flowers or following on soon. Peduncles show quite a variation in length from 100-200 mm long.

H. carneus was first described in 1821 by the English botanist John Bellenden Ker Gawler (1764-1842), first editor of Edward's Botanical Register.

[edit] References

• The Genus Haemanthus: A Revision - Deidré Snijman (National Botanic Gardens of South Africa 1984) ISBN 0 620 07339 X

[edit] External links

• Haemanthus carneus
• Haemanthus carneus
• Australian Bulb Association