The Royal Haemanthus A Houseplant Of Tomorrow

That royal group of spectacular flowering bulbs, the Haemanthus or blood lilies, forming one of the most colorful and aristocratic sections of the amaryllis family, is showing a strong and steady upward trend toward greater popularity and appreciation in America.

The Haemanthus has always been beloved by European greenhouse growers, and a few outstanding hybrids have been reported from the continent in modern times.

In America the Haemanthus has had to fight a long battle, almost unaided, to gain a place in the sun. There are half a dozen species in cultivation in the United States, and the most commonly grown are Haemanthus katharinae and Haemanthus multiflorus. Interestingly enough, the main growing regions of these two kinds are sharply divided.

Most of the Haemanthus multiflorus bulbs are found in Florida, where they have made themselves perfectly at home, and have become treasured porch plants and tub specimens in old gardens and new. Years ago, a retired Connecticut florist, living in Tavares, Florida, showed a visitor a colony of Haemanthus multiflorus in section of Eustis, Fla., numbering more than 100 bulbs. These were soon snapped up by willing purchasers at good prices. Inquiry as to the origin of the bulbs revealed only the information that “grandma got a bulb off a sailor in St. Augustine” many years before, and the large supply represented the natural increase of the original bulb.

The late Dr. Henry Nehrling grew Haemanthus in his pioneer Florida garden, and today the bulbs of Haemanthus multiflorus may be found in little collections of five to a dozen or more over the sunshine state, mostly in the hands of back yard garden growers. So far as known the only species grown commonly in Florida is Haemanthus multiflorus.

Haemanthus katharinae is grown almost exclusively in California and in northern greenhouses and homes. It does not seem to thrive in Florida. The bulbs may not like the acid soils and heavy Summer rainfall which suit Haemanthus multiflorus so well. Haemanthus katharinae comes from South Africa; Haemanthus multiflorus from the more tropical parts of the African continent, which may explain the situation.

Nature Showing Off

The blood lilies are among the showiest flowers of nature, both Haemanthus multiflorus and Haemanthus katharinae producing large umbels of scarlet or orange-red flowers so thickly set atop a foot-tall scape that the resulting impression is a flaming ball of color. There may be 100 or more flowers in the umbel of a vigorous, well-grown plant. The globe of “fire” may be eight to ten inches in diameter at the maximum. In India, the shape of the bloom suggested the popular name of “Football Lily.”

The foliage appears simultaneously or just after the bloom scape in the case of multiflorus, while Haemanthus katharinae usually blooms after the foliage is more advanced. The leaves are ovate and rich green, spreading around the leafy stem which forms a strong trunk several inches tall, spotted with dark red to a more or less degree.

Winter Die Off

Haemanthus multiflorus is deciduous, the leaves dying off completely in Winter. The plants are purely tropical and should never be exposed to temperatures below 50 degrees F. unless thoroughly dormant. Winter storage at temperatures below that point is apt to injure the bulb. Haemanthus katherinae goes dormant in late Winter, but retains its foliage longer than the other.

The Haemanthus likes a growing medium of leaf mold type sandy loam with a little cow manure or compost added. A teaspoonful of a complete 5-7-5 commercial fertilizer may be added to the top of the pot three or four times during the growing season. Watering should be sparing at first until the bulb is growing vigorously, then more water may be given, but drainage must be good at all times or the roots will rot away.

Other Species

Among other species of Haemanthus occasionally grown and offered in the United States are Haemanthus alktios, a dainty little white-flowered rarity, Haemanthus puniceus, an old favorite, and H, mediums, another classic of the group, the culture of which goes back hundreds of years in Europe. Most of the species arc interesting but do not have the sparkling beauty of multiflorus and katharinae.

Haemanthus multiflorus bulbs are like an amaryllis with an enlarged base, and Haemanthus katharinae is similar. The dormant bulbs are usually planted with the growing tip just at the top of the soil in seven- or eight-inch pots or in gallon cans. The bloom scapes arise at the side of the leafy stem. The bulbs have large, white, fleshy roots which must be protected carefully in Winter to prevent shriveling, as in the case of Ismene, and to retain vitality. The writer stores his bulbs in their pots in Winter in a warm dry place without watering or disturbing the soil until April 1st. Then the bulbs are repotted and watered to start the new cycle of growth.

Haemanthus bulbs may be grown in the garden or open ground in the tropics and subtropics but usually are considered too rare and costly for this risk of exposure to the ravages of grasshoppers and caterpillars, a few species of these insects finding them highly desirable. At present the price of the bulbs of both Haemanthus katharinae and Haemanthus multiflorus may range up to five or ten dollars each, but with increased popularity and demand it will be possible to propagate or import new stock and bring them within the reach of the flower fan with the moderate purse.

Purchase of a Haemanthus bulb, if it lives and thrives, is a good financial investment, as well as one rich in gardening pleasure, as many a Florida has discovered.

Haemanthus coccineus, which 60 years ago was reported as finding naturalized on a ranch near Santa Barbara, Calif., has a European origin, being first reported by Ferrarius in the garden of the famous Renaissance patron of horticulture, Cardinal Barberini, in Rome. Ferrarius presented two engravings of the plant in his 1633 works, De Florurn Cultura, pages 137 and 139, extraordinary in their accuracy and realism for the time.

The various Haemanthus, especially Haemanthus multiflorus, were popular “stove plants” 100-150 or more years ago in Europe, and were pictured and described in many of the classical works of botany and horticulture.

The name Haemanthus, or blood-flower, goes back to the venerable Hermann late in the 17th century, and was accepted by Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum in 1753. Its popularity 200 years ago in the early English greenhouses may be judged from an account in the Botanical Magazine, 1806, which says “from the first establishment of a colony at Sierra Leone the bulbs of this beautiful flower (Haemanthus multiflorus) have been imported from thence, and it is rather common in our stoves.”

by W Hayward

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