Zephyranthes lindleyana 'Horsetail Falls' (Fairy Lily)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Fairy Lily, Rain Lily, Zephyr Lily

Description

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Family Amaryllidaceae

Herbs perennial , rarely shrubby or treelike, often with bulbs, corms, rhizomes, or tubers. Leaves basal or cauline, often narrow, margin entire or spiny . Inflorescence a terminal spike, umbel, raceme , panicle, or flowers solitary. Flowers bisexual , actinomorphic or zygomorphic, usually subtended by 1 to several spathaceous involucres. Perianth segments 6, in 2 whorls, free or connate to form a short tube , with or without a corona . Stamens 6, inserted at perianth throat or at base of segments; filaments sometimes basally connate; anther dorsifixed or basifixed , mostly introrse . Ovary inferior, 3-loculed; ovules few to many per locule; placentation axile . Style slender; stigma capitate or 3-lobed. Fruit a capsule, usually loculicidal, sometimes dehiscing irregularly, rarely a berry. Seeds with endosperm.

More than 100 genera and 1200 species: tropical , subtropical , and temperate regions worldwide; ten genera and 34 species (14 endemic, four introduced ) in China.[1]

Genus Zephyranthes

Herbs, perennial , scapose , from bulbs. Bulbs black or brown, tunicate , ovoid or globose , sometimes with long neck. Leaves sessile, erect or recumbent , with overlapping sheathing bases ; blade linear , rarely exceeding 1 cm wide, smooth . Scape hollow. Inflorescence 1-flowered (rarely 2-flowered in Z. drummondii), spathaceous , otherwise ebracteate ; spathe proximally tubular . Flowers erect to declinate , actinomorphic ; perianth subrotate to funnelform to salverform , connate basally into tube , 2-16 cm; tepals subequal ; stamens 6, of 2 different lengths , appearing equal or subequal (anthers in 2 overlapping sets of 3) to unequal (anthers of the sets not overlapping in Z. longifolia) ; filaments inserted just above perianth tube, erect, diverging except when shorter than tube, long-filiform to short-subulate, those inserted on distal tepals usually 1+ mm longer than those inserted on proximal ones; anthers submedially dorsifixed , usually parallel with floral axis, linear-oblong; ovary inferior; style filiform ; stigma capitate or 3-fid with lobes linear; pedicel sometimes absent, hollow. Fruits capsular , thin-walled, 3-locular, subglobose or ± oblate . Seeds numerous , black, flat, D- or wedge-shaped, lustrous . x = 6.

Species ca. 70: se and sc United States, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America.

In Zephyranthes, the degree of fusion of the perianth into a tube is reflected in flower form, filament length, staminal position, and the opening of the bud. Flowers with much-abbreviated perianth tubes are subrotate; with increasing degrees of perianth fusion, flower form shifts from subrotate to funnelform to salverform. The more the perianth is fused, the shorter the filaments in relative length. The longer the perianth tube, the less the stamens diverge, to the point of fasciculation. The timing of the opening of the bud and the expansion of the flower runs across this morphological spectrum from early morning (shortest tubes) through the day to the evening (longest tubes).

The phylogeny of Zephyranthes is not well understood. The species with long perianth tubes and fasciculate stamens are sometimes segregated in the genus Cooperia. While there is considerable diversity within Zephyranthes, splitting the genus into two genera by the degree of fusion of the perianth tube does not fit well with the continuity of the morphological spectrum and with the apparent hybrid origins of species in Texas and Mexico. By and large, species with linear stigmatic lobes bloom mid winter-spring-summer, while those with capitate stigmas bloom summer-fall. Many species with linear stigmatic lobes have leaves over 5 mm wide, but such wide leaves are not known in species with capitate stigmas. Whether there is particular generic significance in differences in stigmatic lobes (linear or capitate) or in filaments (filiform or subulate , and apically acute or blunt ) remains to be discovered.

The perianth tube as a portion of the perianth, the relative lengths of the filaments and perianth tube, the type of stigma, the spatial relationships of the stamens, and the position of the stigma relative to the anthers are critical characteristics in the separation of species of Zephyranthes. These characteristics, especially the capitate stigma, can be very difficult to determine in herbarium specimens, but reasonable determinations can usually be achieved with strong backlighting and practice. For consistency, almost all measurements given herein are from herbarium specimens. The width of the leaf shrinks in pressing and drying; generally the maximum width of a fresh leaf could be about one and one half that reported here.

It has been thought that pedicels are consistently either present or absent in species of Zephyranthes. This is belied by the occurrence of both pedicellate and sessile flowers within each of the three species (Z. atamasca, Z. treatiae, and Z. simpsonii) native to the southeastern United States.[2]

Physical Description

Flowers: Bloom Period: March, April, May, June. • Flower Color: pale pink

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 6-12" tall.

Biology

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Growth

Culture: Space 3-6" apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 5.6 • Maximum pH: 7.8

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b. (map)

Taxonomy

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Domain: Eukaryota () - Whittaker & Margulis,1978 - eukaryotes
- Kingdom: Plantae () - Haeckel, 1866 - Plants
  - Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae () - Cavalier-Smith, 1981
    - Phylum: Tracheophyta () - Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - Vascular Plants
      - Subphylum: Euphyllophytina ()
        Infraphylum: Radiatopses () - Kenrick & Crane, 1997
        Class: Spermatopsida () - Brongniart, 1843
        Subclass: Liliidae () - Takhtajan, 1967
        Superorder: Lilianae () - Takhtajan, 1967
        Order: Asparagales () - Bromhead, 1838
        Family: Amaryllidaceae () - Jaume Saint-Hilaire, 1805, nom. cons. - Amaryllis Family
        Tribe: Zephyrantheae ()
        Genus: Zephyranthes () - Herbert, 1821, nom. cons. - Rain-lily, fairy-lily, zephyr-lily [Greek Zephyros, west wind, and anthos, flower]
        Specific epithet: lindleyana
        Cultivar: Horsetail Falls
        Botanical name: - Zephyranthes lindleyana 'Horsetail Falls'

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Zephyranthes

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 96 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

More Info

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Notes

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Contributors

Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.

Identifiers

Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 948356

Footnotes

Zhanhe Ji & Alan W. Meerow "Amaryllidaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 24 Page 264. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Raymond O. Flagg, Gerald L. Smith & Walter S. Flory "Zephyranthes". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 55, 281, 282, 296, 297, 298, 299, 303. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

Zephyranthes lindleyana 'Horsetail Falls'

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Description

Family Amaryllidaceae

Genus Zephyranthes

Physical Description

Size/Age/Growth

Biology

Growth

Taxonomy

Similar Species

Members of the genus Zephyranthes

More Info

Further Reading

Notes

Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes