Haemanthus carneus ('carneus': Latin 'flesh-coloured') is a South African bulbous geophyte in the genus Haemanthus. Despite a fairly wide distribution, it has been collected from only a few scattered sites in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape near Grahamstown and Somerset East, occurring between 300 m and 1200 m above sea level.

Haemanthus carneus
Plate 509 from The Botanical Register
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Amaryllidaceae
Subfamily: Amaryllidoideae
Genus: Haemanthus
Species:
H. carneus
Binomial name
Haemanthus carneus
Distribution over South Africa
Synonyms[1]
  • Haemanthus roseus Link
  • Melicho carneus (Ker Gawl.) Salisb. nom. inval.
  • Serena carnea (Ker Gawl.) Raf.

The bulbs grow in small clumps in the shelter of trees, bushes and rocks. Their tunics are more or less equal with horizontal leaf-scars. Leaves number two or three, usually flat on the ground, appearing with the flowers or following on soon. Peduncles show quite a variation in length from 100 to 200 mm long. H. carneus was first described in 1821 by the English botanist John Bellenden Ker Gawler (1764-1842), first editor of Edward's Botanical Register.

References

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  1. ^ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  • The Genus Haemanthus: A Revision - Deidré Snijman (National Botanic Gardens of South Africa 1984) ISBN 0-620-07339-X
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