A few years ago Daryl Geoghegan sent me the bulb of the attached image as a very small offset -- it was packed in a Kodak 35-mm plastic film can, as I recall! He enclosed a note asking, "Is this aulicum?" or words to that effect. Now it is in bloom, and I'm not sure! I have it right next to my blooming pots of Hippeastrum aulicum #300. I'll send images of #300 in a separate message. The sepal lengths are 9 cm. Blooming bulb is 6 cm in diameter. Stigma tip is split into 3 arms which are curled back. Flower is ca. 10 cm across the face. What do you all think?

Jim Shields
Westfield, Indiana

Hippeastrum aulicum #300

This is Hippeastrum aulicum #300, which I got from Dr. Tom Whittaker 20 years ago. I think Dr. Whittaker may have collected it himself in Brazil.

The flower is ca. 15 cm. across the face, and opens almost flat. The sepals are about 9 cm long, and the blooming bulb is ca. 9 cm in diameter, but slightly smaller bulbs have also bloomed. The stigma tips are 3-lobed but very slow to spread, and then do not spread widely.