Name / Author

Publication

Notes

Amaryllis belladonna L.

Amaryllis belladonna L.

Sp. Pl. 293 [date]

Also at Bot. Mag. t.733 [1804] and Bot. Reg. t.714 [1823]

Amaryllidaceae.  Now the accepted name for the South African sp. in a hitherto monotypic genus.  Amaryllis paradisicola Snijman and Williamson (1998) recently added. [Manning, Goldblatt, Snijman, (2002) Colour Encyclopaedia of Cape Bulbs]

Linnaeus also named a South American species (Hippeastrum equestris) Amaryllis belladonna, placing it the family Liliaceae.

Amaryllis belladonna described by Herbert as the type of the Linnaean genus Amaryllis.  There is no doubt that this is the plant referred to under this name by Bidwill. [Herbert, Amaryllidaceae, p.275]

Coburgia belladonna Herb.

Coburgia belladonna Herb. ex Sims

Bot. Mag. sub tt. 2113, 2114 [1819]

Bot. Mag sub t. 2113 [1819]

= A. belladonna L.

Callicore rosea Link.

Handb. i. 193 [1829]

= A. belladonna L.

Amaryllis rosea Lam.

Encyc. i. 122 [date]

= A. belladonna L.

Amaryllis rosea (Herb. ex Sweet) Traub & Uphof [Herbertia v. 122, 1938] = Habranthus roseus Sweet [IPNI]

Leopoldia belladonna M. Roem.

Syn. Ensat. 129 [date]

= A. belladonna L.

Brunsvigia rosea (Lam.) Hannibal

Herbertia ix. 101, in obs., 146 [1943]

= A. belladonna L.

This name Brunsvigia rosea commonly used in the American literature from this date.

Amaryllis blanda Ker Gawl

Bot. Mag. t.1450 [1812]

= A. belladonna L.

Hannibal speculated on the origins of A. blanda, suggesting that it may be a naturally occurring hybrid with a white-flowered Cybistetes [I cannot find the reference for this but ]. 

Worsley, [The Gardeners’ Chronicle, 3^rd November, p.349, 1928] speculated that Amaryllis blanda was a naturally occurring Brunsdonna.

But there is a large range of colour and growth forms of A. belladonna in the wild.

Brunsvigia blanda (Ker Gawl) Hannibal

Herbertia ix. 146 [1943]

=A. blanda, = A. belladonna L.

Brunsvigia josephinae Ker Gawl.

Brunsvigia josephinae (Redouté) Ker Gawl

Bot. Reg. t.192, 193 [1817]

Also vars. at Bot. mag. 2578 [1825] and Bot. reg. t.192, 193 [1817] and Flore des Serres 313-314 [1848], all under the name Brunsvigia josephinae

Amaryllis josephinae Redouté

Lil. 3. 370. 372. [1802-16]

= Brunsvigia josephinae (Redouté) Ker Gawl

Referenced by Herbert [Amaryllidaceae p.278].  Herbert referred this plant to Amaryllis as A. josephinae [Amaryllidaceae p. 278]

Brunsvigia multiflora Ait.

Brunsvigia multiflora Ait.

Brunsvigia multiflora Heist.

Hort. Kew. ed II. ii. 230. [date]

Bot. Mag. t.1619 [1814]

= Brunsvigia gigantea [IPNI], = B. orientalis Ait.

This is probably the B. multiflora of Bidwill as Herbert retains this name, although referring to Heister rather than Aiton. 

Hannibal [The ‘Kew Belladonna” and the Multiflora hybrids, The Australian Garden Journal, p.44, winter, 1994] assumes that Bidwill’s Brunsvigia multiflora was in fact Cybistetes longifolia:  ‘Bidwill’s original 1850 descriptive phrase “crosses of B. multiflora” (non Aiton syn Cybistetes longifolia [Hannibal’s insertion]) becomes a valid epithet if recognised as a bigeneric hybrid x Amarystetes multiflora.’  Description’s in Bidwill’s Note Book makes this extremely unlikely.

Brunsvigia orientalis Ait. ex Eckl.

Topogr. Verz. Pflanzensamml. Ecklon 7. [1827]

= Brunsvigia gigantea Heist. [IPNI]

Brunsvigia orientalis L.

Reference?

Data needed.

Amaryllis multiflora D. Dietr.

Syn. Pl. ii. 1180 [date]

= Brunsvigia gigantea [IPNI] , = B. orientalis Ait.

Brunsvigia gigantea Heist.

Besch. Brunsv. Braunschweig. 3, cum ic. fide Schult. f. syst. vii. 844 [date]

Brunsvigia gigantea (Marum) Traub = Amaryllis gigantea [IPNI]

Amaryllis belladonna x Brunsvigia sp. hybrids

Amaryllis josephinae x A. blanda

Herbert, Amaryllidaceae p.278. [1837]

Amaryllis Josephini Herb. = A. belladonna L.  This cross was apparently effected by Herbert c. 1825.  Bidwill obtained a bulb which had never flowered from Herbert in 1843, brought to Australia, it was subsequently lost without flowering.  [Bidwill, The Gardeners’ Chronicle p.470, 1850]

Amaryllis blando-Josephiniana appeared in the Camden Park catalogue in 1850 but nothing more is known of it.  It may be the bulb obtained by Bidwill from Herbert.

Amaryllis belladonna x Brunsvigia josephinae

Bidwill, notebook [1840]

Bidwill, The Gardeners’ Chronicle p.470 [1850]

Bidwill provides considerable detail on the cross.  There appears to be no reason to doubt the parentage of the progeny but the only detailed description given is of ‘Ameliae’ which seems distinctly different to the Kew Belladonna and all described multiflora belladonna hybrids..

Amaryllis belladonna x Brunsvigia multiflora

Bidwill, notebook [c.1840]

Bidwill, The Gardeners’ Chronicle p.470 [1850]

Bidwill found only minor differences between the progeny of this cross and those of the B. josephinae cross.

Amaryllis ‘Ameliae’

Bidwill, notebook [1847]

Anon. The Gardeners’ Chronicle p.423 [1849]

Detailed description given of this particularly fine selection from among the progeny of A. belladonna x B. josephinae.

‘Ameliae’ was exhibited at the 2^nd Australasian Botanical and Horticultural Society show.  It appeared in the Camden Park catalogue in 1850.

Amaryllis hybrid

Anon. Horticultural Magazine of NSW, p.65 [1866]

Shown by Silas Sheather, nurseyman of Parramatta, NSW.

Hannibal, The Australian Garden Journal, p.44 [winter 1994]

The origin of this plant is unknown.  The etching shows a many-flowered umbel of trumpet-shaped blooms with reflexed segments, colour scarlet.  It may be the first depiction of an Amaryllis x multiflora [x Amarygia parkeri] hybrid.  Silas Sheather was at one time gardener at Camden Park.  He opened his nursery on land owned by the Macarthur’s at Parramatta.

Hannibal considered that Sheather’s plant ‘was clearly an Amaryllis x Cybistetes hybrid with many features of the latter and obviously a F1 (first generation) cross.’ 

Amaryllis baptisii and other multi-flowered hybrids

NSW [c. 1860s]

Data required.  Scan Australian nursery catalogues, reports of horticultural shows and proceedings of Horticultural and Gardening Societies.

Amaryllis belladonna x Brunsvigia josephinae

Anon. The Gardeners’ Chronicle, p.302 [1875]

Reportedly ‘a seedling raised by Lady Parker in Australia from a cross between Amaryllis belladonna and Brunsvigia josephinae.  This cross was first effected by the late Mr. Bidwill, and has since been several times repeated by Lady Parker.’  While the flower is not described the article goes on to say that ‘some of the seedlings so raised were superior, both in the number and colour of the flowers.’

This is the first reference to Bidwill in published documents in relation to such a cross, with the exception of his letters in the The Gardeners’ Chronicle.

Amaryllidaceae

J. G. Baker, Handbook of the Amaryllidae,  [1888]

Baker provides no further information.  Hybrids not discussed.

Amaryllis belladonna

Bulletin Soc. Toscana di Ort., [1895]

‘Four reputed hybrids are figured [in this journal].’  [A. Worsley, Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, vol. 51, p.64, 1926].  Coloured image of Nuova Varietà di Amaryllis Belladonna.  All appear to be Amaryllis belladonna rather than hybrids.

Kew Belladonna Lily. Hybrid between Amaryllis belladonna and Brunsvigia josephinae

Amaryllis Parkeri

W. Watson, The Garden p.414 [1898]

W. Watson, The Gardeners’ Chronicle, 6^th February [1909]

Origin of this plant not given.  Described as differing from A. belladonna in having broader leaves, taller, more robust scape, 20 or more flowers per scape, as opposed to 10 or less, and larger flowers, tending to open together rather than successively, with broader, less pointed segments, bright rose, aging to almost pure crimson.

Watson identified the Kew Belladonna as a plant presented by Mrs Arbuckle, identical to the plant shown by Lady Parker in 1875.  He proposed the name Amaryllis Parkeri.  Watson assumed, from Bidwill’s letter to The Gardeners’ Chronicle of 1850, p.470, that Bidwill had crossed Amaryllis blanda with B. josephinae to produce A. Parkeri.  There is no direct evidence that this cross was ever made by Bidwill.

Brunsvigia josephinae x Amaryllis belladonna

Brunsdonna tubergenii

The Gardeners’ Chronicle, January 23rd [1909]

H. J. Elwes, The Gardeners’ Chronicle, 6^th February [1909]

A. Worsley, Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, vol. 51, p.64 [1926]

Raised by van Tubergen in Holland.  ‘A bigeneric hybrid raised from Brunsvigia josephinae and Amaryllis belladonna, colour of flowers deep rose.’

Elwes identifies Hoog as the breeder of Brunsvigia josephinae x Amaryllis belladonna.

‘The generic name Brunsdonna was given by Messrs. Van Tubergen in 1909, so that I must not be accused of capriciously altering plant names.  My object is, rather, to standardize their nomenclature upon the accepted system.’  Hoog’s cross known as Brunsdonna [x Brunsdonna] tubergenii from about this time, although it does not appear to have been published earlier.

Amaryllis blanda x Brunsvigia josephinae

H. J. Elwes, The Gardeners’ Chronicle, 6^th February [1909]

Elwes quotes Herbert in considering A. blanda to be a distinct species: ‘A. blanda has a strong midrib to the leaves which sheath above the ground.  Now this sheath, which is strongly marked in my plants of A. blanda […] is also a pronounced feature of the Kew hybrid, for which I accept the name A. Parkeri.  The sheath, however, is absent from all the other forms of Belladonna known to me. […] In 1901, desiring to verify the alleged parentage of Parkeri, I raised a hybrid between Amaryllis blanda ♀and Brunsvigia josephinae ♂, and these seedlings show the sheath more or less distinctly, whereas the plant raised by Mr. Hoog, and figured in your last number, has the leaves like those of B. josephinae.’  I have found no further specific reference to these plants.

A. x Parkeri

Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, November, [1909]

I have not yet seen this paper.  Also Amaryllis X parkeri (W.Watson) Worsley, Gardeners’ Chronicle, series 3, 45:92 [1909].

Amaryllis parkeri

Anon, The Garden, 23^rd September, p.462 [1911]

Bulbs received from New Zealand c.1905.  ‘A strikingly beautiful and handsome variety […] nearly thirty flowers and buds, the pedicels inclining from sub-erect to horizontal and displaying the rose coloured flowers to advantage.  The beauty of the flower is enhanced by the orange yellow colouring which is seen at the base, both internally and externally.  The plant shown is practically synonymous with Amaryllis belladonna Kew Variety, but the flowers of the former possess more of the lovely orange yellow shade.’  A photograph was included.

Amaryllis parkeri alba

Anon, The Garden, 23^rd September, p.462 [1911]

‘There is the same large head of flowers similarly disposed, also the rich orange tone at the base of the tube, as in the foregoing.  The arrangement of the flowers is very suggestive of a pronounced, glorified white flowered Clivia.’  Exhibited by A. Worsley.

Brunsdonna Sanderae alba

Anon, The Garden, 23^rd September, p.462 [1911]

Exhibited by Messrs. Sander and Sons, St. Albans.  ‘This is also a reputed hybrid between Brunsvigia josephinae and Amaryllis belladonna, though the evidence of the flowers alone suggests but little of this.  In effect it would appear to be a good white flowered Belladonna Lily. […] The flowers are slightly suffused orange at their bases, both internally and externally, and less erectly disposed than in the white Parkeri variety just noted.’

This is the first mention of Brunsdonna that I have seen.

Amaryllis ‘Hathor’

[1911]

Introduced at a Sydney horticultural meeting. [Hannibal, The Australian Garden Journal, winter 1944, p.44].

Find the original description.

Brunsdonna parkeri

A. Worsley, The Gardeners’ Chronicle, 14^th November, p. 391 [1925]

Useful review of the literature on Amaryllis / Brunsvigia josephinae hybrids to date.  Worsley assumes Brunsdonna parkeri to be a first cross between Amaryllis belladonna ♀and Brunsvigia josephinae ♂, which resembles A. belladonna, and compares it to the reciprocal cross of van Tubergen, which has more Brunsvigia character.  Worsley maintained that ‘all crosses between Brunsvigia and Amaryllis should bear the generic name of Brunsdonna (for which Messrs. Van Tubergen obtained priority and the specific name Parkeri (for which the late W. Watson obtained priority on February 6, 1909), should be given to all hybrids between Brunsvigia josephinae and the several forms of Amaryllis belladonna.  Varietal names – such as Tubergenii – should be used to distinguish between the reverse cross plants raised by Messrs. Van Tubergen, Junr., and those raised by Lady Parker and Bidwill, for the former are quite distinct from the latter.’

Worsley included a photograph of Brunsdonna Parkeri var. alba, raised by himself, and presumably the plant exhibited as Amaryllis parkeri alba in 1911.

Brunsdonna

A. Worsley, Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, vol. 51, p.64 [1926]

History of the Brunsdonnas.  ‘Bidwill was therefore the first person who made this inter-generic cross and raised his hybrids to maturity, and, by rights the cross should have been named Brunsdonna x Bidwelli [sic].’  Worsely proposed that Bidwill’s Amaryllis belladonna x Brunsvigia multiflora hybrids be called Brunsdonna x Bidwelli [sic], distinguishing them from the B. josephinae hybrids for which he proposed Brunsdonna x Parkeri.

Worsely reported that the progeny of B. x parkeri were typical B. x parkeri in appearance.  He reported that [in 1926] there were now ‘four hybrids and varieties between Brunsvigia and Amaryllis: Brunsdonna x Bidwelli (probably to be found alive in some Australian gardens); Brunsdonna x Parkeri (now widely spread in gardens); Brunsdonna x Parkeri var. Tubergeni (in a few gardens); Brunsdonna x Parkeri alba.’  He mentions others, such as Brunsdonna Sanderae alba which he has not seen.

Amaryllis pseudo-blanda

Amaryllis rubra major

A. Worsley, Amaryllis blanda and its allied varieties and hybrids, The Gardeners’ Chronicle, 3^rd November, p.349 [1928]

Amaryllis rubra major is a large, robust, deep crimson Amaryllis which flowers freely, ‘as brilliant in colour as any Brunsdonna’.  Worsley comments: ‘Now that Amaryllis and Brunsvigia have produced a garden race of hybrids and back-crosses, it will become increasingly difficult to apply any other test than garden merit to these plants.  Some of the back-crosses of Brunsdonna with A. belladonna, which have originated by chance in my garden, are barely distinguishable from A. belladonna.  But, in general, the best garden types have both their leaves and the segments of their flowers twice as long as in the type A. belladonna, and have also twice as many flowers to the umbel.  On these facts we may consider that the doubts which have clung for so long to “the lost A. blanda” have now been dissipated.’  (Worsley had hypothesised that A. blanda was a naturally occurring Brunsdonna).

Amaryllis belladonna parkeri var. zwanenburg

Th. M. Hoog.  Belladonna Lily Hybrids.  Year Book American Amaryllis Society p.113 [1935]

‘Amaryllis belladonna was crossed with Brunsvigia josephinae and B. gigantea and this produced Amaryllis belladonna parkeri, which is a tall “Belladonna” with a large number (up to 20) of flowers. […] We obtained seeds from [A. belladonna var. purpurea major] by hybridisation with the said A. belladonna parkeri and this resulted in a strain of free blooming “Belladonnas” with numerous and large flowers of a very beautiful colouring, deep pink and white with yellowish throat, on strong stems.’

If interpreted correctly this is the first clear description of a back-cross from an Amaryllis x Brunsvigia hybrid to A. belladonna.  I have contacted Antoine Hoog of Holland who was unable to furnish any more detail of his grandfathers work.  I am still pursuing this.  [No progress since 2005].

Brunsvigia multiflora

G. K. Cowlishaw.  Year Book American Amaryllis Society p.43 [1935]

Cowlishaw reported that, by 1935 the hybrids raised by ‘one Bidwell’ about 1870, ‘between the A. belladonna and Brunsvigia grandiflora […] are the most widely grown of all Amaryllids today, under the name of “Brunsvigia multiflora”, “B. multiflora alba” and “B. multiflora rosea”.  They are all good seeders and as one can quite well imagine, their offspring does not come true.  A well grown specimen will carry a head of thirty to forty flowers, B. rosea giving the largest heads, and B. alba the smallest.  These have become widely dispersed throughout NSW gardens, and on account of the rapidity of their increase, and their taller stems and larger flower heads, are much more widely grown than A. belladonna.’  It is not clear what is meant by Brunsvigia grandiflora.  Does Cowlishaw mean Brunsvigia grandiflora Lindl.?  If so this is the first mention of this plant as a parent of the multiflora hybrids.  Or is this an error, with Brunsvigia multiflora intended?

Callicore rosea [+its hybrids]

L. B. Creasey.  Callicore rosea in its native habitat.  Herbertia p.214 [1939]

‘The brunsvigias and crinums are natives of the eastern and north-eastern localities of summer rainfall [and could not therefore hybridise with A. belladonna].  Further, those who would believe that C. rosea could form natural hybrids with plants grown in close association and flowering at the same season are faced with another peculiarity.  For we have Nerine sarniensis growing actually with C. rosea and flowering at the same time of year.  Yet I have neither heard of nor seen a natural hybrid between these two plants.  Exactly the same applies to Haemanthus coccinea, whose flowering season and locality also coincide with those of C. rosea.’

Brunsdonna multiflora

E. O. Orpet.  Callicore rosea and Brunsdonnas.  Herbertia p.221 [1939]

‘When the first white flowering Brunsdonna multiflora alba, a hybrid between Callicore and Brunsvigia, was brought into California, at least 25 years ago, it was highly valued and was used considerably for cross pollination.’  Orpet notes that this plant was called Amaryllis multiflora alba in Australia.

X Amarygia

Ciferri & Giacomini.  Nomenclator Florae Italicae 121 [1950]

Proposed name for Amaryllis L. x Brunsvigia Heist. hybrids

X Brunsdonna

X Brunsdonna parkeri

Amaryllis parkeri

H. E. Moore Jr.  Names for intergeneric hybrids (Amaryllidaceae).  Baileya 16 (2) p.37 [1968]

X Brunsdonna Van Tubergen ex Worsley, Gardeners’ Chronicle series 3, 78:391 [1925]

X Brunsdonna parkeri (W. Watson) Worsley, Ibid.

Amaryllis parkeri W. Watson, Gardeners’ Chronicle, series 3, 45:92 [1909]

X Brunsdonna has been accepted by some as a valid name for Brunsvigia Heits. x Amaryllis L. hybrids.

X Amarygia bidwillii

X Brunsdonna bidwillii

X amarygia parkeri

Amaryllis X parkeri

X Brunsdonna parkeri

H. E Moore Jr.  Nomenclature Notes for Hortus Third – Amaryllidaceae.  Baileya v.19 no.4 [1975]

X Amarygia bidwillii (Worsely) H.E.Moore, comb. nov. for Amaryllis belladonna L. x Brunsvigia orientalis (L.) Ait. ex Eck.  Probably a valid name for all progeny of this combination.

X Brunsdonna bidwillii Worsely, Journal of the RHS 51:65 [1926].  Proposed for the same combination but invalid if X Brunsdonna Van Tubergen ex Worsley is accepted.

X Amarygia parkeri (W.Watson) H.E.Moore, comb. nov. for Amaryllis belladonna L. x Brunsvigia josephinae (Redouté) Ker-Gawl.  Probably a valid name for all A. belladonna x B. josephinae hybrids.  Opinion obtained from Kew Gardens to this effect.

Amaryllis X parkeri (W.Watson) Worsley, Gardeners’ Chronicle, series 3, 45:92 [1909].  Invalid name for this combination.

X Brunsdonna parkeri (W.Watson) Worsely, Gardeners’ Chronicle, series 3, 78:391 [1925].  Invalid name for this combination.

Brunsvigia rosea and its hybrids

W. R. P. Welch.  Experiences with Brunsvigia hybrids.  Plant Life, The Amaryllis Year Book p.92 [1982]

Excellent description of the x multiflora hybrids.

‘Brunsvigia rosea [=A. belladonna] begins to flower in August, with the hybrids extending the season to the beginning of October.’  He refers to a number of cultivars.  ‘All of the hybrids I have referred to come under the heading B. x multiflora, being made up of ¾ or more B. rosea in their ancestry.  Some are fully radial, but most tend to show the preponderance of B. rosea in their background by having an umbel which tends to favour one side, though few are as strictly one-sided as B. rosea.  The hybrids have from 10-20 florets per stem, but I would expect more as they become better established.  All set seed freely, giving up to 30 or more seeds in the larger pods. […] The white clones I have seen all have some amount of apricot in the throat.’

x Amarygia parkeri

Brunsvigia josephinae

Author, source and date unknown, but from South Australia.  Possibly Marjut Ratanen-Burman who provided Hannibal with photographs.  [The Australian Garden Journal. p.44, winter 1994].

A photograph of a plant apparently identical with Amaryllis ‘Ameliae’ is identified as x Amarygia parkeri.  The author comments that these plants are also called Brunsvigia josephinae in SA.

Amaryllis x parkeri

Amaryllis x multiflora

x Amarygia

x Amaristetes multiflora

x Amarystetes parkeri

X Amarygia vantubergenii

L. Hannibal.  The ‘Kew Belladonna’ and the Multiflora hybrids.  The Australian Garden Journal. p.44, winter [1994]

‘I have been involved with these Amaryllis hybrids for fully 50 years and have grown, crossed and bred both the Amaryllis x parkeri and the Bidwill A. x multiflora in large quantities during this period.’  Hannibal appears to be distinguishing his Amaryllis x parkeri  and Amaryllis x multiflora by the form of the umbel, the Bidwill A. x multiflora having a more radial umbel.  Hannibal writes: ‘Historically, Bidwill referred to this cross in his letter to The Gardeners' Chronicle as his Brunsvigia multiflora hybrids, not realising that he was using a quite distinctive genus’, claiming that Bidwill actually used Cybistetes longifolia and not B. multiflora (B. orientalis).  He further claims that Henry Parker misidentified C. longifolia as B. josephinae.  Neither of these claims are substantiated by Bidwill’s notes.  Bidwill was familiar with Cybistetes longifolia (as Ammocharis falcata) and we have Bidwill’s record of having crossed Ammocharis falcata ♀ with Amaryllis belladonna ♂, although he failed with the reciprocal cross.  Bidwill records that he ‘had once several capsules of this plant […] but they were stolen when just ripe and I have never had another opportunity of trying to cross it.’  [Bidwill Notebook p.51].

Hannibal proposed a number of name changes to account for all the possible combinations of crosses between A. belladonna and C. longifolia, and to take into account the generation of the cross.  In summary, the A. belladonna x C. longifolia hybrids to be called x Amaristetes and the A. belladonna x Brunsvigia hybrids (of which he recognises tubergenii) to be called x Amarygia, with appropriate specific names according to history.