"Hippeastrum" is Greek for "horseman's star" (also known today as "knight's star") and was chosen in 1837 by the Honorable Reverend William Herbert, Dean of Manchester. No one is entirely sure why he picked this name although buds on the verge of opening do look something like a horse's ear and clearly the blossoms do resemble six-pointed stars. It seems likely however, as William Herbert was both a clergyman and something of an expert on early medieval history, that he chose the name because of the plants striking resemblance to the 'morning star', a medieval weapon used by horsemen. A version of the weapon was also called a 'holy water sprinkler', an ecclesiastical object the Dean would have been familiar with.

The first commercial breeders of hippeastra were Dutch growers who imported several species (see list at right) from Mexico and South America and began developing cultivars and hybrids from them in the 18th century; the first of these reached North America early in the 19th century. In 1946 two Dutch growers moved to the Union of South Africa and began cultivation there. Although most hippeastra come from the Dutch and South African sources, bulbs are now being developed in the United States, Japan, Israel, India, Brazil and Australia. The double flowers from Japan are particularly beautiful.

In general only a large bulb will put up more than one flower scape or spike but this depends on the cultivar itself, some smaller bulbs have two while some larger bulbs make only one. A bulb must produce at least four large, healthy leaves in the summer growing season before it can send up a scape the following year. Some bulbs put up two flower scapes at the same time or they may wait several weeks between blooms and sometimes the second scape will have only two or three flowers rather than the usual four. Dutch bulbs usually produce flowers first, then, after it has finished blooming, the plant will begin growing leaves. Bulbs from the South African growers usually put up a scape and leaves at the same time.

The flower colors include red, rose, pink, white, orange, yellow and pale green with variations on these including different colored stripes and edges on the petals. Some flowers have uniform colors or patterns on all six petals while others have more pronounced colors on the upper petals than on the lower ones.

There are five types: 1) single flower; 2) double flower; 3) miniature; 4) cybister; and 5) trumpet. Cybisters have extremely thin petals and are often described as spider-like. Trumpets, as the name suggests, have flared, tube-shaped flowers. Single, double and miniature bulbs are the ones typically sold by nurseries and other stores for the holidays in December and for Valentine's Day and Easter.

The lovely miniature "Papilio" (which is a species hippeastrum, meaning this is not a cultivar or hybrid but the actual plant that grows in the wild) has a unique color and pattern with broad rose-burgundy center stripes and striations on pale green on the upper petals and narrow stripes on the bottom three. "Papilio" has been crossed with both cybister and single flower hippeastra to produce hybrids with unusual striping.

Victory

Original oil painting on canvas