Botanical name

Amaryllis belladonna

Family

Amaryllidaceae

Common Name

Belladonna Lily, March Lily, Maart Lelie
Amaryllis belladonna
Amaryllis belladonna
Amaryllis belladonna
Amaryllis belladonna
Amaryllis belladonna
Amaryllis belladonna

Description

Bulbous geophyte up to 90cm. Leaves 5-11, strap-shaped, spreading to suberect, 20-60mm wide, channelled, smooth, absent or dry at flowering. 4-12, trumpet-shaped flowers, usually turned to one side, are white to pink, usually pale lemon in the throat; highly fragrant especially in the evening; visited by noctuid moths. Pearly-pink seeds germinate rapidly after falling in autumn ready for the winter rains.

Italian: bella = handsome, pretty, donna = lady: referring to this species handsome flowers.

Amaryllis = adopted by Linnaeus; name of country-girl or sheperdess in Ovid and Virgil.

Habitat

Lower altitudes in loamy soils in seasonally moist sites

Flower Date

February to April, mostly after fire