Hippeastrum--a little February brightness

[leonardturner]

Generally known as amaryllis in the US, these plants are common holiday gifts comprising a planted bulb which quickly grows and flowers upon watering, with bright colorful blooms. This example produced four flowers springing from a single stalk, seen here from above.

Detail of petal surface. I was trying to account for a transition in the reflectivity as the individual petals folded approached each other in individual flowers; I never found an explanation; perhaps it is simply an angle at which the petals begin to reflect differently. I did get led down the primrose path by an earlier shot in this area which seemed to show blue (!) trichomes; a more critical look revealed these to be simple reflections apparently caused by stray (sky) light.

Trifid stigma

Thanks,

Leonard

[klevin]

The last is the most interesting to me. Very well done.

I've grown amaryllis for years, and the bulbs do multiply. They're easy to winter over and keep growing. I took this years' plants out of dormancy January 1, and currently have 19 emerging flower stalks. May have some photos in another three or four weeks.

[leonardturner]

Thank you, Klevin. I only recently discovered that wintering over is an easier process than I had thought, and may try it this year.

Leonard