''Hippeastrum aulicum'', the Lily of the Palace, is a

bulb In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...

ous

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

, in the family

Amaryllidaceae The Amaryllidaceae are a family of herbaceous, mainly perennial and bulbous (rarely rhizomatous) flowering plants in the monocot order Asparagales. The family takes its name from the genus ''Amaryllis'' and is commonly known as the amaryllis fa ...

, native to the

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...

and Cerrado

ecoregions An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

from

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

Description

''Hippeastrum aulicum'' is a bulbous

epiphyte An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

, growing on rocks and trees which has large scarlet flowers with a green throat, usually with four flowers to a stem. It blooms in late summer and autumn.Pacific Bulb Society: ''Hippeastrum aulicum''
/ref>

Taxonomy

''Hippeastrum aulicum'' was first described by

Ker Gawler John Bellenden Ker, originally John Gawler, was an English botanist born about 1764 in Ramridge, Andover, Hampshire and died in June 1842 in the same town. On 5 November 1804 he changed his name to Ker Bellenden, but continued to sign his name a ...

in 1883.

Synonyms

See

The Plant List The Plant List was a list of botanical names of species of plants created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Missouri Botanical Garden and launched in 2010. It was intended to be a comprehensive record of all known names of plant species ...

* ''Amaryllis aulica'' Ker Gawl. * ''Amaryllis aulica var. platypetala'' Lindl. * ''Amaryllis heuseriana'' (H.Karst.) Ravenna * ''Amaryllis heuseriana f. campanulata'' Ravenna * ''Amaryllis robusta'' Otto & A.Dietr. llegitimate* ''Amaryllis rougieri'' Carrière * ''Amaryllis tettanii'' auct. * ''Aulica latifolia'' Raf. * ''Aulica platypetala'' (Lindl.) Raf. * ''Aulica striata'' Raf. * ''Hippeastrum aulicum var. platypetalum'' (Lindl.) Herb. * ''Hippeastrum aulicum f. robustum'' (A.Dietr. ex Walp.) Voss * ''Hippeastrum heuserianum'' H.Karst. * ''Hippeastrum robustum'' A.Dietr. ex Walp. * ''Hippeastrum tweedianum'' Herb. * ''Omphalissa aulica'' (Ker Gawl.) Salisb. * ''Trisacarpis rubra'' Raf.

Etymology

The species name ''aulicum'' comes from the Latin, meaning 'princely'.

Cultivation

''Hippeastrum aulicum'' is cultivated by specialty flower bulb nurseries as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

."For The Love Of Bulbs" Blog: ''Hippeastrum aulicum''
. accessed 11.28.2013

References

Sources

*
Zuloaga, F. O., O. Morrone, M. J. Belgrano, C. Marticorena & E. Marchesi. (eds.) 2008. Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares del Cono Sur (Argentina, Sur de Brasil, Chile, Paraguay y Uruguay). Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 107(1): i–xcvi, 1–983; 107(2): i–xx, 985–2286; 107(3): i–xxi, 2287–3348.
aulicum Flora of Brazil Flora of the Cerrado Flora of the Atlantic Forest Plants described in 1783 Garden plants of South America {{Amaryllidaceae-stub