Last night, I attended Ron Long's extended presentation on "Pink Mountain Revisited -- The Conservation Crisis That No One Is Aware Of". For local readers of BPotD, Ron will be giving a shorter version of the lecture on Monday at noon here at the Garden. I encourage you to attend to get informed about the industrial threats to this special area.

I visited Pink Mountain last year in mid-June with Ron. The species in today's photograph, northern Jacob's-ladder, is one of ten British Columbian blue-listed species (and one-red listed) of vascular plants identified to-date from Pink Mountain. It is my understanding that no site identified as-yet north of the 50th parallel in British Columbia has as many threatened and endangered species in so small an area (the border with the US on mainland British Columbia is the 49th parallel). This area, though, is a candidate for a wind farm -- meaning (in part) widening and improvement of roads to transport the materials and concrete needed to create the concrete slabs for supporting the turbines. Ron remained in the area for weeks after I had to return to work, and witnessed a construction crew (there to re-install a wind-speed test tower) decimate (in the literal sense) a population of blue-listed Ranunculus pedatifidus subsp. affinis through the parking of heavy equipment.

Road improvement and widening is a direct threat to the populations of Polemonium boreale on Pink Mountain, as very few (any?) individuals can be found more than 5m (16ft.) distant from the edge of the road. Unfortunately, the road typically follows the highest ridge where the soil layer is at its thinnest and where Polemonium boreale thrives in the gravelly substrate.

Despite its rarity in British Columbia, Polemonium boreale is stable as a species world-wide, with a panarctic distribution (Canada, Alaska, Russia, Greenland and Norway), including Svalbard: Polemonium boreale.

Polemonium boreale is a low-growing perennial, perhaps reaching 30cm tall. If I recall correctly, a quick way to tell it apart from the nearby Polemonium acutiflorum when not in flower was that the foliage did not have a skunky smell if the leaves were lightly pressed between one's fingers (or perhaps it was the other way around). When in flower, the tips of the corolla lobes of Polemonium boreale are rounded with more apparent colour venation on the surface than those of the pointy-tipped Polemonium acutiflorum.

Additional photographs are available from the Toolik-Arctic Geobotanical Atlas: Polemonium boreale.

Second last in this short series on plants of Japan, today's photograph with a return to autumn colours for a day is courtesy of stevieiriswattii!@Flickr (original image | | Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Pool). Thank you!

Through a series of taxonomic twists and turns, Neoshirakia japonica is the current name for Sapium japonicum as accepted by the Flora of China: Neoshirakia japonica. This is in part due to research by Hans-Joachim Esser, summarized here: Neoshirakia, A New Name for Shirakia Hurus. (Euphorbiaceae). In brief, before being sunk into Sapium and commonly accepted as Sapium japonicum, the species had been published as Shirakia japonica. In most cases, when a previously-published species name is to be resurrected due to additional evidence supporting the previous understanding, it would simply revert (so, in this case, back to Shirakia japonica). In the intervening years, however, it was discovered that the genus name Shirakia had already been applied to a fern -- and according to the rules of botanical nomenclature, two vascular plant genera can not have the same name. The end result was that the new genus Neoshirakia was published, with Flora of China researchers currently attempting to determine whether it contains 2 or 3 species.

Neoshirakia japonica is known commonly as the Japanese tallow tree, and it is native to Japan, China and Korea. The taxon is mentioned by Bean in Trees & Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles, so presumably it is hardy to zone 8 or 9. For this deciduous shrub or small tree (to 8m or so), Bean makes particular mention of "The leaves turn bright crimson in the autumn."

Thank you for the comments and emails yesterday re: places in the southeastern USA -- I will reply individually to each of you by the end of the week!

After having written most of the today's entry, a rewrite was in order; to censor a quote from one of my favourite movies, "I've got information. New (expletive) has come to light!". It seems like the series on plants of Japan is becoming more of a series on "plants of China and / or Japan influenced by the other country" after yesterday's Camellia hybrid and today's Kerria japonica 'Pleniflora'. Before getting into the details, first of all today's photographs are courtesy of Jane of Missouri, USA, aka Shotaku@Flickr (original photo 1 | original photo 2 | Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Pool). Dōmo arigatō, Shotaku.

When I first encountered Kerria japonica 'Pleniflora' some years ago, I couldn't immediately tell what family it was a part of. The problem was the lack of flower characteristics due to the 'Pleniflora' -- in this case, a "doubling" mutation where the stamens instead develop into petals and the plants are sterile (for a different kind of doubling mutation in the same family, see Rubus spectabilis 'Olympic Double'. Now that I've mentioned Rubus is in the same family, I've given away that Kerria japonica 'Pleniflora' is a member of the Rosaceae.

Kerria is named after William Kerr, noted by Wikipedia as "the first Western professional full-time plant collector active in China" and the person who introduced Kerria into cultivation in Europe by sending Kerria japonica 'Pleniflora' to England in 1805. It twigged on me that Wikipedia's account doesn't mention Kerr taking a trip to Japan, so I started to question the name japonica, a specific epithet meaning "of Japan".

Many, many references state that Kerria japonica, or "Japanese yellow rose" is native to China and Japan (and sometimes Korea). A little bit of digging first revealed that Thunberg, during a collecting trip to Japan in 1776, had first collected the species that was to be eventually named as Kerria japonica. However, the specimen was in poor or incomplete condition, so it was initially determined that the species belonged to a different genus (and family). When it was properly recognized as a new genus post-1805 thanks in part to the living material sent by Kerr, it was named after Kerr but retained the japonica specific epithet. What Thunberg (and Linnaeus, who published the original name) didn't realize, though, was that Kerria japonica is apparently not native to Japan. It seems that it had been introduced as a garden ornamental from China! I haven't had any luck tracking down the reference that asserts that Kerria japonica was never native to Japan, but a respected source makes the statement: Dr. Susan Hamilton of the University of Tennessee Gardens on Kerria; and Gerald Klingaman, retired horticultural extension agent at the University of Arkansas makes an allusion: Kerria japonica. If anyone knows of the reference, I'd be glad to add a link. Lesson? Always check your assumptions.

For gardening accounts and additional details of both the species Kerria japonica and its cultivated varieties, see Paghat's page on Kerria japonica (with a small essay of its cultural importance in Japan!) or Tim Wood's weblog entry on Kerria.

A BPotD note to start today's entry: you'll have noticed that Claire hasn't had too many entries lately. She's still working on BPotD, though -- she's preparing the entries for the series we do for Celebrate Research week, which involves much preparation work with the professors and graduate students.

To start the series on plants of Japan, frequent Botany Photo of the Day contributor James Gaither, aka J.G. in S.F.@Flickr, shared this image of a Camellia hybrid via the Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Pool. James also has a second close-up photograph of this plant posted to Flickr. Thank you!

I suppose I should add a qualifier to today's entry: this hybrid Camellia is only 50% Japanese origin. Camellia japonica in the wild is native to Japan and South Korea. The other parent of this hybrid, Camellia cuspidata, is widespread across temperate China.

The order of the names of the parent species for this hybrid is important, as it indicates Camellia japonica is the seed parent while Camellia cuspidata is the pollen parent. It's not a natural hybrid, as the two species do not have overlapping ranges, and I doubt it was a chance seedling as the parentage is known. So, this artificial cross was likely made purposefully by a camellia hybridizer, and I'll also guess that UC Berkeley Botanical Garden has the detailed records of its origin. Camellia japonica is often used in Camellia hybridization, with over 2000 cultivars and selections (674 records match in the RHS Plant Finder, which is an indication of how many are available in RHS Plant Finder listed nurseries). However, Camellia cuspidata is rarely used, with only 8 records matching in the RHS Plant Finder.

For further reading, the American Camellia Society has a set of articles on Camellia hybridization.

Lastly, a personal note for BPotD readers in western North Carolina, eastern Georgia and the South Carolina points in-between (or those familiar with the region): I will be visiting your part of the world at the end of April and early May this year, and I'd be interested to hear from you via email about your favourite gardens, parks or botanically-oriented hikes. I am scouting for a group trip in 2012, so even restaurant suggestions for a mid-sized group would be welcome! Thanks in advance!

Today's entry was written by Claire. For those of you who are new readers to BPotD, Claire is a UBC student funded through BPotD reader donations. Claire writes:

Today's colourful photo of Dodecatheon hendersonii (original linked image cropped by Daniel for BPotD) is courtesy of local natural historian Wayne Weber (Wayne Weber@Flickr) via the Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Pool. The photograph was taken last May in the Mount Tzuhalem Ecological Reserve near Duncan, BC on Vancouver Island. Much appreciated Wayne!

Dodecatheon hendersonii of the Primulaceae, or primrose family, is commonly known as Henderson's shooting star or mosquito bill. It occurs in the western regions of North America, from Vancouver Island to California. It can grow at moderately high altitudes (of up to 2100 meters) in some California mountain ranges, such as the Sierra Nevada.

Dodecatheon hendersonii has somewhat puzzled taxonomists dealing with California and southern Oregon populations, as (older) herbarium specimens would rarely include the bulblets and mature capsules needed to differentiate two varieties: Dodecatheon hendersonii var. hendersonii and var. hansenii. Making things more difficult are a strong morphological resemblance to other taxa in the genus, including Dodecatheon clevelandii var. patulum -- and possible hybrids among taxa. The Flora of North America elaborates on these difficulties in its entry for Dodecatheon hendersonii with the last sentence beginning with "More study is needed".

I can't help but include this link to photographs by Dr. Steven Wolf, a Professor of Botany in the Biology Department at California State University Stanislaus (CSUS) and Curator of the CSUS Herbarium: fantastic close-ups of Dodecatheon hendersonii, detailing the colours and intricate structure of the bee-pollinated flowers (you would think there'd be an uncommon pollination method with that structure!). Jim Conrad's BackyardNature.net has a photograph of the entire plant, with its low-lying vegetative parts and long peduncle: Dodecatheon hendersonii.

Botany resource link (added by Daniel): Star Wars fan? Check out this week's What's In Bloom Highlights from the Chicago Botanic Garden before the highlights change!

A thank you to Meighan@Flickr for sharing today's photographs with us via the Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Pool (original images, photographed early last week at the Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC, are here and here). Thank you!

Organizing for the 2011 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival is well underway it seems, and the earliest of the flowering cherries are starting to bloom. Activity is also picking up in the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Forums, for those local and distant readers who would like to follow the blooming of the cherry trees in neighbourhoods across the city and region (and some in Japan, too!).

Prunus × subhirtella 'Autumnalis Rosea' , or pink winter cherry, is an old cultivar of Japanese gardens. It is a slight variant of Prunus × subhirtella 'Jugatsu-zakura' (incorrectly known as Prunus × subhirtella 'Autumnalis'), with Prunus × subhirtella 'Autumnalis Rosea' having brighter pink flowers and pink buds instead of white. 'Jugatsu-zakura' translates to "cherry of the tenth month" implying an October bloom time, which coincides with a common autumn warm spell that occurs in Japan. In other parts of the world (like Vancouver), it may blossom sparingly in the autumn and throughout the winter, and then will have a full flush of flowers in February or March.

Pink winter cherry typically remains under 5m (16.5 ft.) tall with a broad and open form. Unfortunately, in our locale, it is subject to disease: "the flowers and smallest twigs to brown rot disease, which causes dieback in wet weather, and the larger stems to bacterial canker, especially when trees are grafted on mazzard rootstock" (from Ornamental Cherries in Vancouver by Douglas Justice and the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival). Other material for today's entry was sourced from Japanese Flowering Cherries by Kuitert.

One of the responsibilities I have at the Garden is looking after the library. After trying (and failing) to identify this plant, I ordered a copy of Ron Russo's Field Guide to Plant Galls of California and Other Western States for the library as a reference. Though it didn't help in that identification, the book has quickly become a favourite among the staff here at UBC Botanical Garden for its crisp photography and intriguing subject matter -- I think there will even be a book review in our next issue of Davidsonia.

The midge-induced gall on this Artemisia tridentata (big sagebrush) is not accompanied by a photograph in the book. However, Rhopalomyia medusa is mentioned in the image-accompanied entry on Rhopalomyia medusirrasa, a closely-related species. On Rhopalomyia medusirrasa, from the book:

"This midge induces globular, leafy-pubescent, polythalamous [many-chambered] galls on the bud of Great Basin sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata). These large galls are actually composed of numerous leaflife structures that are covered with long, forked hairs...Galls begin development in October, rest during the winter, and reach full size the following spring. These spring galls measure 20 to 25 mm in diameter and contain up to four larvae. Adults emerge in April or May. The larvae, pupae, and adults of this species [Rhopalomyia medusirrasa] are basically indistinguishable from those of Rhopalomyia medusa. The major differences exist with the galls. The galls of the woolly bud gall midge [Rhopalomyia medusirrasa] have the long white hairs, while the galls of Rhopalomyia medusa are hairless."

Gall midges are relatives of pests known to many indoor gardeners, fungus gnats (search the UBC BG Forums for "+fungus +gnat" (without quotes) to see the many discussions). For photographs of members of the genus Rhopalomyia, head on over to bugguide.net: Rhopalomyia. There are no images of either of Rhopalomyia medusa or Rhopalomyia medusirrasa, but you'll get a good sense of the various life stages of these small insect species from the others photographed.

I also note from this entry that I've never done an entry on Artemisia tridentata for BPotD. That's something I'll have to correct in the near future!

Claire wrote today's entry:

Today's photograph of Mimetes fimbriifolius, taken in Western Cape, South Africa, is courtesy of Marie Viljoen (marieviljoen@Flickr) of Brooklyn, New York. You may want to read Marie's weblog post, Walking above Muizenberg, where she writes about encountering this tree (and many other plants). Thank you Marie!

A proteaceous species endemic to the Cape Peninsula of South Africa, Mimetes fimbriifolus is currently classified as a rare species, though it was once commonly found on Table Mountain. Also called tree pagoda, this species has been heavily harvested for its wood for the past three centuries, one of the main detriments in sustaining its population. A thick, cork-like trunk is characteristic of Mimetes fimbriifolus, and the tree can reach up to four meters (13ft.) tall with wide-spreading branches. The interesting flowers and coloured bracts, located at the tips of the branches, are shaped this way to facilitate pollination by nectar-eating birds--usually sunbirds or Cape Sugarbirds.

Mimetes fimbriifolus is one of the largest and longest-lived members of its genus. Despite a lifespan reaching possibly a century (in which it has many reproductive years, but takes a decade or so to mature), seed production is the only mechanism by which it propagates in the wild; adult individuals are unable to re-sprout from stump or roots like some shorter-lived members of its genus. This has been particularly disadvantageous for this species in recent centuries, as the natural cycle of fires was replaced with more frequent burnings upon European colonization of the area. These too frequent fires have also been a detriment to the species, as populations of Mimetes fimbriifolius can be wiped out when plants do not have enough time to mature and produce seeds before the next adult-killing fire. Mimetes fimbriifolus has evolved some mechanisms to resist fire during its life cycle: seeds are often stored deep underground by ants (protection); seed germination is triggered by a fire (it would typically be many years between natural fires, so germinating post-fire would provide opportunity for the seedling to reach adulthood); and juvenile trees have a thick, fire-resistant bark with buds deep within, so a partially-burned juvenile can re-sprout. However, these adaptations are negated with too-frequent burning.

Previously featured on BPotD five years ago, Hamamelis mollis (or Chinese witchhazel) is one of the few dozen or so taxa in bloom in UBC Botanical Garden at the moment (this photograph is from a couple days ago).

This wide-spreading small tree (to ~8m tall) has a native range restricted to China (Hamamelis mollis in Flora of China), where it flowers in the months of April and May. In UBC Botanical Garden, however, it is reliably in full-flower by the end of January.

Additional photographs are available from the University of Connecticut's Plant Database: Hamamelis mollis.

Today's entry was written by Claire:

3Point141@Flickr provided us with this photograph via the BPotD Flickr Pool of the fruit and flowers of Averrhoa bilimbi, a tropical tree belonging to Oxalidaceae (taken in Pinellas Park, Florida). Much appreciated 3Point141!

Oxalidaceae, or the wood sorrels, is a small family of 6 genera and 770 species distributed in temperate to tropical regions. Common to the family, and also visible with the flowers of Averrhoa bilimbi in the photograph, there are five petals and stamens in multiples of five in the whorl.

Averrhoa bilimbi (named after Averroes, a Muslim astronomer and philosopher) is a long-lived tree that produces an edible, refreshing fruit. Some common names of this species are (funnily enough) bilimbi, cucumber tree, and pickle fruit - the latter two attesting to what the fruit resembles. Averrhoa bilimbi is often compared with another popular, cultivated tree in the same genus called Averrhoa carambola, which most people know as starfruit or carambola.

The species likely originated on the Maluku Islands of Indonesia, but varieties are now commonly found throughout southeast Asia and other tropical areas worldwide. It has been cultivated in tropical regions for centuries and has accumulated a swath of local common names: Averrhoa bilimbi nomenclature via Wikipedia.

Averrhoa bilimbi can often reach heights of ten meters or higher. It can be found in gardens for ornamental purposes (as you can see, the flowers are very exotic) but it is typically grown for local production of food. The fruit is quite acidic and cannot always be eaten raw (though it is sometimes a snacking food). Fruits can also be sweet or savoury depending on the cultivated variety. Pickling, cooking, sugaring, currying, and juicing are some ways Averrhoa bilimbi is used in local cuisine.

Ecology resource link (added by Daniel): Frequent BPotD contributor, Eric in S.F., suggested a note regarding a newly-immigrated kudzu-eating bug in the southeast USA. Kudzu (Pueraria lobata), a member of the Fabaceae, is an invasive scourge in southeast USA. One would think that a kudzu-eating insect would be welcome, but it turns out that it also happily feeds on soybean and peanuts (also Fabaceae), causing a potential threat to those industries. Also, residents are concerned that the rather-smelly bugs can cause quite the odour when they congregate in the thousands. Read more via Alabama Cooperative Extension: State's Residents Should Be on Watch for Kudzu Eating Insect.

Another entry from Claire today. She writes:

This photograph of Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi was taken at the Rutgers Floriculture Greenhouse by Elena (mycologie@Flickr) and provided to us via the BPotD Flickr Pool. Much appreciated, Elena!

Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi belongs to a family of succulent herbaceous species and soft-stemmed shrubs, the Crassulaceae. Crassulaceae has about 34 genera and 1370 species spread over a wide range of the world (frequently in drier regions). This family is known for CAM photosynthesis, which they and many other groups of taxa utilize. CAM is an acronym for Crassulacean Acid Metabolism, an adaptive strategy to allow maximum water storage.

This beautiful species is a native of Madagascar, but is widely cultivated as an ornamental and houseplant. As it is a succulent, it requires little water and is very low maintenance. Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi easily establishes and can take root from even one leaf being transplanted (it has escaped cultivation and become invasive in some subtropical places).

The common name is lavender scallop, due to the slightly purplish/pinkish tinge of the leaves. Some pictures of the vegetative parts can be found on the University of Connecticut's Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Greenhouses site: Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi.

...and we're back. Sorry for the gap of a few days, it took us a while to sort out some of the issues in the set-up of the software behind the scenes. I hope it's all resolved now, and the biggest issue of photographs not loading should finally be fixed.

Claire wrote today's entry (thanks again, Claire):

A change from flowers for today. Tony Foster (Tonyfoster@Flickr) from Kaeo, New Zealand, provided this photograph (via the BPotD Flickr Pool) of fruit of the small tree, Mida salicifolia. Much appreciated Tony!

A native to the North Island of New Zealand, Mida salicifolia of the Santalaceae is a small tree found in mixed podocarp forests. The Santalaceae contains 44 genera and 990 species and is broadly distributed throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world.

A hemi-parasite like other members of its family, Mida salicifolia parasitizes through its roots, where it steals some nutrients from its host (often the kauri tree, Agathis australis). However, the species is also capable of photosynthesizing and living independently. A well-known example of another hemi-parasitic species in the family is mistletoe.

Maire taiki is the Māori name for Mida salicifolia, but there are several other species of native New Zealand trees bearing the name maire such as maire hau (Leionema nudum)and maire tawake (Syzgium maire). The Māori Dictionary has additional matches for maire. English common names include New Zealand sandalwood and willow-leaved maire.

The leaves of Mida salicifolia are lance-like (salicifolia = "leaves of a willow") and glossy. Its flowers (see photos on link) are quite diminutive in comparison to the size and appearance of the bright red berries (7-12 x 6-8 mm). Often this species is confused at a glance with small trees of Nestegis species (common names also being maire), but can be easily distinguished by looking at the leaf arrangement: Mida salicifolia has alternate leaves while Nestegis spp. have opposite leaves. Additional photographs of the flowers and vegetative parts of Mida salicifolia (and another member of the family, Korthalsella salicornioides can be found on the University of Auckland, Biological Sciences website: Santalaceae.

The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network (also linked above) states that Mida salicifolia is in decline in areas where browsing occurs from introduced mammal species such as goat, possum, and deer. However, it is relatively widespread, and remains particularly abundant on possum-free islands.

A bit of BPotD news before today's entry: we finally have a date and time set to transition the web site over to the new server. It's been a real headache for months, but hopefully the pain will be over by mid-week next week. On Monday @ 10am local time, we'll start to move the site over. Unfortunately, since we're also moving to a new server, the web site domain name needs to be pointed to the new server, and that means it may be a couple days before you are able to access content on the new site while the name propagates to the various Internet Service Providers. The old site will still be running for a few days, but comments will be turned off. Fingers crossed that all goes well!

The last time I featured a Parnassia on BPotD (over 5 years ago: Parnassia glauca), I wrote that the genus had been moved out of the Saxifragaceae (you'll see that in many classification systems) and even out of the Saxifragales (the order containing the Saxifragaceae and related families) and into the Parnassiaceae (within the Celastrales). A number of research groups have since studied the relationships between Parnassiaceae and Celastraceae; current thought provisionally places Parnassia within the Celastraceae, but it seems (after reading the Phylogeny section on the linked page) that this may yet revert to being split again.

This August photograph of Parnassia fimbriata (fringed grass-of-Parnassus or Rocky Mountain grass-of-Parnassus) was taken only meters away from a second of British Columbia's four Parnassia species, Parnassia kotzebuei. Parnassia is another genus I am always thrilled to encounter, as it was one of the first dozen or so I learned to recognize in Manitoba.

Parnassia fimbriata is native to much of western North America, where it grows in moist sites (fens, bogs, streamside, seeps, wet meadows) at elevations ranging from lowland to alpine. It is the tallest of these herbaceous species in British Columbia, occasionally reaching 50cm in height (though more typically 15 to 30cm). Parnassia kotzebuei, by comparison, is the shortest, ranging from 6-20cm.

Parnassia is a reference to Mount Parnassus; Linnaeus applied the name to the genus based on an account in Materia Medica, a written work by the Greek physician Dioscorides (Dioscorides called it Agrostis En Parnasso). The Plants for a Future database contains a listing of historical medicinal uses for Parnassia palustris, the species thought to have been described by Dioscorides (who also said of it: "That which grows in Cilicia (which the inhabitants call cinna) inflames rude beasts if often fed on when it is moist".

For additional photographs, see Calphotos: Parnassia fimbriata or Southwest Colorado Wildflowers: Parnassia fimbriata.

Today's entry was written by Claire:

Richard Droker (wanderflechten@Flickr) of Seattle, Washington, provided us with this image taken in Zimbabwe of two Scadoxus multiflorus plants (via the BPotD Flickr Pool). Thank you Richard!

The Amaryllidaceae spans worldwide and currently includes 73 genera and 1605 species (including yesterday's Rhodophiala rhodolirion). It is common for members of this family to produce showy inflorescences from a single scape, and many are geophytes (growing from an underground storage organ, such as corms or bulbs).

Scadoxus multiflorus is a rhizomatous perennial that produces a pseudostem--a stem-like structure that is composed of the tightly-bundled leaf bases. Originating in tropical Africa, the species contains three subspecies. Two of the subspecies found commonly in cultivation are subsp. multiflorus and subsp. katherinae; descriptions and photographs of these can be found via the Pacific Bulb Society's Wiki: Scadoxus. A third subspecies, Scadoxus multiflorus subsp. longitubus is rare in cultivation and restricted to lowland rainforests from Guinea to Ghana (for more on many Scadoxus species, see Glorious Scadoxus (PDF) by Jonathan Hutchinson).

Plants only produce a single inflorescence each flowering season, from December through March (late summer to autumn in the southern hemisphere). The species grows in a number of habitats ranging from mountainous areas to savannah grassland to woodland. Scadoxus was previously placed in the genus Haemanthus (literally, "blood- flower"), but in addition to still being called blood-flower, it is also commonly known as "fireball lily". Calling it blood-flower may be a bit misleading depending on your interpretation, since Scadoxus multiflorus, like all nine species of the genus, is very poisonous. Some indigenous peoples of Africa have uses for the poisonous alkaloids found throughout the plants, including treating water bodies to poison fish and coating arrow tips. It is known to be lethal to livestock, who may eat it when other food sources are scarce.

Local plant enthusiast Alan Tracey sent this photograph a few days ago from Chile, taken during his explorations of Andean summer wildflowers. Thanks as always, Alan!

Rhodophiala translates to "red-saucer" or "red-shallow cup" (a reference to the broadly funnel-shaped red flowers) and rhodolirion to "red-" or "rose-lily". The latter name is in reference to the typical pink flower of today's species, seen in photographs here: añañuca de cordillera.

Native to Chile and Argentina, this taxon is one of thirty or so in the genus, all native to south Andean South America. Members of Rhodophiala have in the past been considered to be part of either Amaryllis (now solely recognized as a South African genus and quite distant phylogenetically within the family) or Hippeastrum. Though closely related, Presl's interpretation of this group of species as distinct from Hippeastrum is now generally accepted. However, I've been so far unable to track down a set of characteristics that justifies this (the width of the leaves is used as a character distinguishing the two genera in this Key to the Hippeastreae, but that would not typically be enough to taxonomically define two distinct groupings, so there must be other differences).

The Pacific Bulb Society Wiki has photographs of a dozen or so taxa and a few cultivated selections (and Rhodophiala phycelloides was previously featured on BPotD). All are similar in habit: lily-like flowers borne on leafless scapes with narrow strap-like leaves emerging from the bulbs.