Rain Lilies

[jshields]

As I've already told many of you, I am setting out to rebuild my long-neglected and much shrunken collection of rain lilies. A couple of years ago, several collectors sent me wild-collected bulbs of Zephyranthes atamasco and Z. simpsonii. Just recently, Charles Crane at Purdue University gave me a bunch of bulbs from his research program: ZZ. jonesii, pulchella, and smallii; Habranthus tubispathus texensis from Texas and a tubispathus form from San Marcos country, TX.

I'm looking for sources for the commoner bulbs, preferably wild collected, with a solid ID. I would be equally happy with seeds or with bulbs, from South America as well as from North America including Mexico. I am happy to trade if I have extras of anything anyone wants (e.g., Haemanthus, Nerine, Crinum, Scadoxus), but I am also willing to purchase from reliable sellers.

Also, I am looking for literature that will help me confirm IDs of material I receive. I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions for plant material sources and for available literature -- I love to get PDF files by e-mail.

Regards,
Jim Shields

[pontus]

Hello Jim,

would you be interested in habranthus pedunculosus, zephyranthes candida, zephyrantes robustus, habranthus gracilifolius or habranthus tubispathus/tubispathus roseus?

Pontus

[Ezeiza]

There is already a thread on Rain Lilies. by duplicating it you are probably missing responses.

[jshields]

Hello Jim,

would you be interested in habranthus pedunculosus, zephyranthes candida, zephyrantes robustus, habranthus gracilifolius or habranthus tubispathus/tubispathus roseus?

Pontus

Hi Pontus,

I am curious about Habranthus pedunculosus, since one of its synonyms is Hippeastrum tubispathum.  So I would be interested in it.  If you get seeds next year, please remember me.  By next autumn I should have fresh seeds of Zephyranthes jonesii, Z. pulchella, and Z. smallii to trade.

Best wishes for the holidays,
Jim

[jshields]

"Habranthus pedunculosus" appears (tropicos, Kew) to be a synonym for "Hippeastrum bifidum" which is Rhodophiala bifida.  If you get seeds, I'd still appreciate getting some.  What weird paths some botanical names seem to follow!

Jim

[Ezeiza]

Jim you are duplacting the thread again.

H. pedunculosus  is the current accepted name for H. teretifolius. It was published by Traub as H. juncifolius, a very good description with interesting cultural observations from the flesh. It is the only species with cylindrical leaves.

[jshields]

I don't find the other Rain Lilies thread; this seems to be the only one alive just now.

Both Tropicos and Kew's World Check List seem confused about this name.  If it really is H. teretifolius that Pontus has, that seems uncommon and very desirable to me.  Seeing the foliage should settle what he actually has.  Pontus?  Does your H. pedunculosus have cylindrical leaves?

Jim

[Maggi Young]

There is a  Rain-lilies: Habranthus, Zephyranthes, Cooperia, etc. 2013  thread
http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=10161.30 under  Amaryllidaceae, where there is also a link to this thread  - but this thread is, appropriately enough, in the Bulbs Wanted  section.

[jshields]

Thanks, Maggi!  In any case, I am looking for swaps that will bring me rain lily species from Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina.  If anyone wants to see my list of currently growing rain lilies, please PM me with your regular e-mail address.  I have a very few bulbs I can swap right now, but I expect to have plenty of seeds to swap next summer and autumn.  It's too cold here at the moment to safely send tropical bulbs and seeds through the mails anyway.

One really rare species, I have a few extra bulbs of, is Zephyranthes guatemalensis.  It is not very self-fertile, producing only a few seeds and they mostly do not germinate.  I want to find a different clone of this species to see if it will enhance the fertility of the seeds I get.  My clone came from Charles Gorenstein and the old I.B.S.   Provenance matters.

I'm also getting, in other swaps, rain lily bulbs that folks apparently want me to ID for them.  At the moment, I'm not in a position to do this, but I'll certainly be able to eventually.  Right now I need well-identified material.  In this case too, provenance matters.

I also need PDF files or reprints of original publications of new and recently names species.  The only bad part about being retired is the loss of scientific library access.

Jim