Hippeastrum
blossfeldiae-like (purple throat)
Dr. Alan Meerow
The whole Brazilian/Argentinean orange complex I think is a perfect example
of what
so often occurs in Hippeastrum. Look at isolated populations and you
see new
species, but begin taking a more holistic approach and everything seems
to grade
into each other. Striatum blends into petiolatum (of which flammigeum appears
to be a
variety). Blossfeldiae fits in there somewhere. Then there is the
blossfeldiae-like thing which Julie says comes from Espititu Santo. It
has a
prominent purple eye (see attached photo). There are are clearly ploidy
differences
among some of these entities.
The purple anthers do seem to unite a group of larger flowered Brazilian species in the genus.
Alan Meerow (March 12, 2004)
