Alstroemeria Ligtu Edwards's 25
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''Alstroemeria'' (), commonly called the Peruvian lily or lily of the Incas, is a genus of
flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...
s in the family
Alstroemeriaceae Alstroemeriaceae is a family of flowering plants, with 254 known species in four genera, almost entirely native to the Americas, from Central America to southern South America. One species of '' Luzuriaga'' occurs in New Zealand, and the genus '' ...
. They are all native to
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
, although some have become naturalized in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
,
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
,
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
,
Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...
and the
Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...
. Almost all of the species are restricted to one of two distinct centers of diversity: one in
central Chile Central Chile (''Zona central'') is one of the five natural regions into which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. It is home to a majority of the Chilean population and includes the three largest metropolitan areas—Santiago, Valparaí ...
and southern
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
, the other in eastern
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
. Species of ''Alstroemeria'' from Patagonia are winter-growing plants, while those of Brazil are summer growing. All are long-lived
perennials In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...
except ''A. graminea'', a diminutive annual from the
Atacama Desert The Atacama Desert () is a desert plateau located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of South America, in the north of Chile. Stretching over a strip of land west of the Andes Mountains, it covers an area of , which increases to if the barre ...
of Chile.


Description

Plants of this genus grow from a cluster of
tuber Tubers are a type of enlarged structure that plants use as storage organs for nutrients, derived from stems or roots. Tubers help plants perennate (survive winter or dry months), provide energy and nutrients, and are a means of asexual reproduc ...
s. They send up fertile and sterile stems, the fertile stems of some species reaching in height. The leaves are alternately arranged and resupinate, twisted on the petioles so that the undersides face up. The leaves are variable in shape and the blades have smooth edges. The flowers are solitary or borne in
umbel UMBEL (Upper Mapping and Binding Exchange Layer) is a logically organized knowledge graph of 34,000 concepts and entity types that can be used in information science for relating information from disparate sources to one another. It was retired ...
s. The flower has six
petal Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corol ...
s each up to long. They come in many shades of red, orange, yellow, green, purple, pink, and white, flecked and striped and streaked with darker colors. There are six curving
stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...
s. The stigma has three lobes. The fruit is a capsule with three valves. Alstroemeria are classified as an inferior monocot, meaning the petals are located above the
ovary The ovary () is a gonad in the female reproductive system that produces ova; when released, an ovum travels through the fallopian tube/ oviduct into the uterus. There is an ovary on the left and the right side of the body. The ovaries are end ...
and the leaf veins are parallel.''Alstroemeria''
Flora of North America.
File:Alstroemeria cultivar.jpg, An ''Alstroemeria'' cultivar File:Alstroemeria x hybrida capsule from above.jpg, ''Alstroemeria'' capsule viewed from above, showing anatomical detail, including apical beak,
vascular bundle A vascular bundle is a part of the transport system in vascular plants. The transport itself happens in the stem, which exists in two forms: xylem and phloem. Both these tissues are present in a vascular bundle, which in addition will incl ...
s (in section) in ribs etc. File:Purple Alstroemeria capsule side view.jpg, ''Alstroemeria'' seed capsule viewed from side, showing winged ribs and (triangular pyramidal) apical beak. File:Alstroemeria pod opening.jpg, alt=Developing Alstroemeria seed capsule cut open to reveal unripe seeds, Premature dehiscence of ''Alstroemeria'' seed capsule


Distribution and habitat

The genus ''Alstroemeria'' is exclusively native to South America, with various species found ranging from
Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
(3° north of the Equator), to
Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main is ...
,
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
(53° South). Within this range of the entire genus, two centers of species diversity are recognized, one in Brazil and one in Chile. In
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
, ''Alstroemeria'' is amongst the most diverse genera of vascular
monocotyledons Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae ''sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are flowering plants whose seeds contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. A monocot taxon has been in use for several decades, but with various ranks and ...
, with more than 50 recognized or accepted taxa (species, subspecies and varieties). Of these taxa, roughly 80% are endemic to the Mediterranean matorral zone of
central Chile Central Chile (''Zona central'') is one of the five natural regions into which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. It is home to a majority of the Chilean population and includes the three largest metropolitan areas—Santiago, Valparaí ...
. In Brazil, which is home to more than 40 species, most ''Alstroemeria'' species are found outside of the Amazonian region, and are concentrated towards the south and east of the country. ''Alstroemeria'' can be found in almost all types of habitat, from forests to savannahs, caatingas to swamps, and commonly, high altitude grasslands and rocky outcrops, with typical altitudes ranging from 300m in the Amazon, to 2300m in the Itatiaia National Park. Most Brazilian species have relatively restricted distributions.


Taxonomy

The genus was described by Johan Peter Falk and his thesis supervisor
Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
in his 1762 dissertation ''Planta Alströmeria''. Linnaeus bears the
botanical authority In botanical nomenclature, author citation is the way of citing the person or group of people who validly published a botanical name, i.e. who first published the name while fulfilling the formal requirements as specified by the ''International Cod ...
(L.).


Etymology

The genus was named after the Swedish baron Clas Alströmer (1736–1794), a friend of Linnaeus.


Cultivation and uses

Many hybrids and at least 190
cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...
s have been developed, featuring many markings and colors, including white, yellow, orange, apricot, pink, red, purple, and lavender. The most popular and showy hybrids commonly grown today result from crosses between species from Chile (winter-growing) with species from Brazil (summer-growing). This strategy has overcome the florists' problem of seasonal dormancy and resulted in plants that are
evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...
, or nearly so, and flower for most of the year. This breeding work derives mainly from trials that began in the United States in the 1980s; the main breeding is done nowadays by companies in the Netherlands. The flower, which resembles a miniature lily, is very popular for bouquets and flower arrangements in the commercial cut flower trade. These delicate flowers survive up to 14 days in water without any signs of shrivelling. Most cultivars available for the home garden will bloom in the late spring and early summer. The roots are hardy to a temperature of . The plant requires at least six hours of morning sunlight, regular water, and well-drained soil.


AGM cultivars

The following cultivars have gained the
Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...
's
Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...
, all with a hardiness rating of H4 (Hardy – average winter ) apart from 'Friendship' (H5: Hardy – cold winter ): * 'Apollo' (white/yellow flowers, 100 cm) * 'Cahors' (pink/yellow, 90 cm) * 'Coronet' (salmon/yellow flowers, 140 cm) * 'Friendship' (yellow flushed pink, 100 cm) * 'Orange Glory' (150 cm) * 'Oriana' (salmon/yellow, 50 cm) * 'Phoenix' (red/yellow, 100 cm) * 'Red Elf' (100 cm) * 'Sirius' (pink/yellow, 100 cm) * 'Sonata' (red/yellow, 100 cm) * 'Spitfire' (orange/yellow, 90 cm) * 'Tessa' (red flowers, 120 cm) * 'Yellow Friendship' (140 cm)


Ecology

Some alstroemerias have escaped cultivation and become
weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. Pla ...
s, such as '' Alstroemeria pulchella''. and '' A. aurea'', which are now weeds in Australia.


Species


See also

*
List of plants known as lily Lily usually refers to herbaceous plants of the genus ''Lilium'', with large showy trumpet-shaped flowers. Many species are cultivated as ornamentals. Many other plants not closely related to lilies are called lilies, usually because their flowers ...
* List of Alstroemeria species


Citations


General sources

* , published in
Amoenitates Academicae Amoenitates Academicae is the title of a multi-volume zoological and botanical publication (published during 1749–1790) consisting of the dissertations of the students of Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), ...
6: 247–262 1763 * {{Taxonbar, from=Q917833 Flora of Southern America Liliales genera