Eucrosia

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Eucrosia
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Flowers of Eucrosia bicolor
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Amaryllidaceae
Subfamily: Amaryllidoideae
Tribe: Eucharideae
Genus: Eucrosia
Ker Gawl. [1]
Species

See text

Synonyms [1]

Eucrosia is a genus of herbaceous, perennial and bulbous plants in the Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae [2] ) distributed from Ecuador to Peru. The name is derived from the Greek eu, beautiful, and krossos, a fringe, referring to the long stamens. [3] As circumscribed in 2020, the genus contains six species. Phaedranassa and Rauhia are the genera most closely related to Eucrosia. [4]

Contents

Description

All the members of the genus are bulbous. The leaves are deciduous, with characteristic long petioles and elliptical or ovate blades (laminae), up to 25 cm wide; they may or may not be present when the flowers are produced. The inflorescence is an umbel of 6–30 weakly to strongly zygomorphic flowers, tubular at the base, green, yellow or red in colour. The stamens hang downwards (i.e. are declinate) and have long filaments which in most species form a cup containing nectaries at the base. The flowers are assumed to be adapted for butterfly pollination, although there is one report of a hummingbird visiting E. eucrosioides. The fruit is a capsule with three locules; the seeds are flattened and winged. The diploid chromosome number is most commonly 2n=46. [5] [6]

Species

As of February 2021, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families accepted seven species of Eucrosia. [7] One, E. dodsonii, has since been recognized as belonging to the genus Urceolina and transferred as Urceolina dodsonii . [4]

A formerly accepted species has been moved to the genus Stenomesson :

Distribution and habitat

Eucrosia is restricted to the central Andes of Ecuador and Peru. All of the species are found only in small areas or as small numbers of individuals. Two species are endemic to Ecuador, one to Peru. Three further species are only occasionally found in Peru, being primarily distributed in Ecuador. All species of Eucrosia are adapted to seasonally dry habitats, found on the lower, Pacific-facing slopes of the Andes and the adjacent lowlands. [5] [6] [4]

Cultivation

In cultivation, all species can be grown in pots in gritty soil in good light, being kept warm and dry when the leaves wither, and watered when the flowers or leaves begin to grow again. Only E. bicolor is widely grown. [8]

Related Research Articles

<i>Clivia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Clivia is a genus of monocot flowering plants native to southern Africa. They are from the family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. Common names are Natal lily or bush lily.

<i>Eucrosia aurantiaca</i> Species of flowering plant

Eucrosia aurantiaca is a species of plant which is endemic to Ecuador. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Urceolina dodsonii, formerly known as Eucrosia dodsonii, is a species of plant that is endemic to Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.

<i>Pamianthe</i> Genus of flowering plants

Pamianthe is a genus of South American bulbous perennials in the Amaryllis family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. They can be found in sandy, but rocky areas in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.

<i>Phaedranassa</i> Genus of flowering plants

Phaedranassa is a genus of South American and Central American plants in Amaryllis family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae.

<i>Strumaria</i> Genus of plants

Strumaria is a genus of African plants in Amaryllis family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. The genus is known in nature only from South Africa, Lesotho and Namibia. Almost all species flower in the autumn and are cultivated as ornamental bulbous plants.

<i>Scadoxus</i> Genus of flowering plants

Scadoxus is a genus of African and Arabian plants in the Amaryllis family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. The English names blood lily or blood flower are used for some of the species. The genus has close affinities with Haemanthus. Species of Scadoxus are grown as ornamental plants for their brilliantly coloured flowers, either in containers or in the ground in frost-free climates. Although some species have been used in traditional medicine, they contain poisonous alkaloids.

<i>Rhodophiala</i> Former genus of flowering plants

Rhodophiala was a genus of herbaceous, perennial and bulbous plants in the Amaryllis family. It consisted of about 30 South American species distributed in southern Brazil, Argentina, and, specially, in Chile. Most of the species are known colloquially as añañuca. It has now been submerged in Zephyranthes.

<i>Urceolina amazonica</i> Species of plant

Urceolina amazonica, formerly known as Eucharis amazonica, is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae, native to Peru. It is cultivated as an ornamental in many countries and naturalized in Venezuela, Mexico, the West Indies, Ascension Island, Sri Lanka, Fiji, the Solomon Islands and the Society Islands. The English name Amazon lily is used for this species, but is also used for some other species of the genus Urceolina.

<i>Eucrosia bicolor</i> Species of plant

Eucrosia bicolor is a species of plant found in Ecuador and Peru. Its natural habitats are seasonally dry lowland areas. It was the first species of Eucrosia to be scientifically described, in 1817, and the first to be introduced into cultivation in Europe, flowering outside its homeland for the first time in 1817. It is the most widely grown species of Eucrosia.

Eucrosia eucrosioides is a species of plant that is found in south west Ecuador and north Peru. Its natural habitats are seasonally dry lowland areas.

Eucrosia mirabilis is a species of plant from Ecuador. In the original scientific description in 1869, it was believed to be from Peru, but there is little evidence it ever grew there. The plant disappeared from cultivation until it was found in Ecuador in 1997. Its natural habitats are seasonally dry lowland areas to elevations of 1500 m.

Eucrosia calendulina is a species of plant that is endemic to Peru.

<i>Pyrolirion</i> Genus of flowering plants

Pyrolirion, commonly known as fire lilies or flame lilies, is a small genus of herbaceous, bulb-forming South American plants in the Amaryllis family, native to Chile, Peru, and Bolivia.

<i>Stenomesson</i> Genus of plants

Stenomesson is a genus of bulbous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae. All the species are native to western South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amaryllidoideae</span> Subfamily of flowering plants

Amaryllidoideae is a subfamily of monocot flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, order Asparagales. The most recent APG classification, APG III, takes a broad view of the Amaryllidaceae, which then has three subfamilies, one of which is Amaryllidoideae, and the others are Allioideae and Agapanthoideae. The subfamily consists of about seventy genera, with over eight hundred species, and a worldwide distribution.

<i>Urceolina</i> Species of plant

Urceolina is a genus of South American plants in the amaryllis family native to Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, and Peru. It has also been introduced to many South and Central American states, as well as India and Sri Lanka. The formerly accepted genera Eucharis and Caliphruria are now regarded as synonyms of this genus. Many species of this genus share the common name Amazon lily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eucharideae</span> Tribe of flowering plants

Eucharideae is a tribe of plants within the family Amaryllidaceae. It was augmented in 2000 by Meerow et al. following a molecular phylogenetic study that revealed that many elements of the tribe Stenomesseae segregated with it, rather than separately, and were subsequently submerged in it. Further revisions were made in 2020, when three genera were merged. It forms one of the tribes of the Andean subclade of the American clade of the subfamily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clinantheae</span> Tribe of flowering plants

Clinantheae is a tribe, where it forms part of the Andean clade, one of two American clades. The tribe was described in 2000 by Alan Meerow et al. as a result of a molecular phylogenetic study of the American Amaryllidoideae. This demonstrated that the tribe Stenomesseae, including the type genus Stenomesson was polyphyletic. Part of the tribe segregated with the Eucharideae and were submerged into it, while the other part formed a unique subclade. Since the type species of Stenomesson was not part of the second subclade, it was necessary to form a new name for the remaining species together with the other genera that remained. This was Clinanthus, the oldest name for these species, and consequently the tribe Clinantheae.

Stenomesson korsakoffii is a species of plant in the family Amaryllidaceae native to Peru. It was formerly known as Caliphruria korsakoffii and Urceolina korsakoffii, but a 2020 molecular phylogenetic study indicates that this species is sister to the other species of Stenomesson.

References

  1. 1 2 "Eucrosia", World Checklist of Selected Plant Families , Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew , retrieved 2014-03-28
  2. Stevens, P.F., Angiosperm Phylogeny Website: Asparagales: Amaryllidoideae
  3. Grossi 2010 , p. 239
  4. 1 2 3 Meerow, Gardner & Nakamura 2020
  5. 1 2 Meerow 1987
  6. 1 2 Grossi 2010 , pp. 240–1
  7. "Search for Eucrosia", World Checklist of Selected Plant Families , Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew , retrieved 2021-02-08
  8. Grossi 2010 , p. 241

Bibliography