''Scadoxus multiflorus'' (formerly ''Haemanthus multiflorus'') is a species of bulbous plant native to most of

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

from Senegal to Somalia to South Africa. It is also native to

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

(Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman) and to the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, ...

. It is naturalized in Mexico and in the

Chagos Archipelago The Chagos Archipelago (, ) or Chagos Islands (formerly , and later the Oil Islands) is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about south of the Maldives archipelago. This chain of islands is the southernmo ...

.It is also found in Indian peninsula. It is grown as an ornamental plant for its brilliantly coloured flowers, either in containers or in the ground in where the climate is suitable. There are three recognized subspecies. Strongly toxic like other ''Scadoxus'' species, it has been used as a component of

arrow poison Arrow poisons are used to poison arrow heads or darts for the purposes of hunting and warfare. They have been used by indigenous peoples worldwide and are still in use in areas of South America, Africa and Asia. Notable examples are the poisons se ...

s and fishing poisons, as well as in traditional medicine.

Common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

s, some of which are used for other species, include blood lily, ball lily, fireball lily, blood flower, Katherine-wheel, oxtongue lily, poison root and powderpuff lily.

Description

''Scadoxus multiflorus'' grows from a "rhizomatous bulb", i.e. a

bulb In botany, a bulb is a short underground stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...

which also produces

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

s (modified underground stems). The leaves and flower may appear together or the leaves may be produced later. The bases of the leaves, the stalks or

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

s, are tightly wrapped together to form a pseudostem or false stem, long. The flowers are produced in an

umbel UMBEL (Upper Mapping and Binding Exchange Layer) is a logically organized knowledge graph of 34,000 concepts and entity types that can be used in information science for relating information from disparate sources to one another. It was retired ...

at the top of a leafless stem ( scape), long. Both the pseudostem and the scape are often covered with reddish brown to dark violet spots. The

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...

s under the umbel soon wither. The

of flowers is more-or-less globe shaped, with from 10 to 200 individual flowers. Each flower has a stalk (

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

) typically long. The

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s, filaments of the

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s and the

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

are all scarlet, fading to pink. The bases of the tepals are fused to form a cylinder-shaped tube, long; the free ends of the tepals are long, narrow and spreading. The fruit is a

berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the cul ...

, across. Differences between the three accepted subspecies have been summarized by Friis and Nordal, and are shown in the table below. It can be seen that although the dimensions mostly overlap, the length of the flower tube relative to the free segments at the end of the flower distinguishes ''S. m.'' subsp. ''longitubus'', in which they are more-or-less the same length, from ''S. m.'' subsp. ''multiflorus'', in which the tube is generally shorter than the free segments. ''S. m.'' subsp. ''katherinae'' is intermediate. ''S. m.'' subsp. ''multiflorus'' tends to have narrower free segments than the other two subspecies. ''S. m.'' subsp. ''katherinae'' is tall, ''S. m.'' subsp. ''longitubus'' short, with ''S. m.'' subsp. ''multiflorus'' generally intermediate, although varying in height throughout its considerable range.

Taxonomy

''Scadoxus multiflorus'' was originally described by English botanist

Thomas Martyn Thomas Martyn (23 September 1735 – 3 June 1825) was an English botanist and Professor of Botany, Cambridge University, Professor of Botany at Cambridge University. He is sometimes confused with the Thomas Martyn (zoologist), conchologist and e ...

in 1795 as ''Haemanthus multiflorus''.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; 22 October 178318 September 1840) was a French early 19th-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a young man in the United States, ult ...

moved ''Haemanthus multiflorus'' to his new genus ''

Scadoxus ''Scadoxus'' is a genus of African and Arabian plants in the Amaryllidaceae, 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 ''Haemant ...

'' in 1838, giving it its current binomial name ''Scadoxus multiflorus''. The separation of ''Scadoxus'' from ''Haemanthus'' was ignored by most workers until 1976, when the two genera were again segregated by Ib Friis and

Inger Nordal Inger Nordal (born 11 August 1944) is a Norwegian professor of botany. She was an associate professor at the University of Oslo from 1974, took the fil.dr. degree (doctorate) at Uppsala University in 1977 and became a professor in 1987. In 1990 ...

. ''Haemanthus'' species are southern in distribution, form true

s and have 2''n'' = 16

chromosome A chromosome is a package of DNA containing part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes, the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with nucleosome-forming packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells, the most import ...

s, whereas ''Scadoxus'' species, such as ''S. multiflorus'', are found throughout tropical Africa, do not all form bulbs and have 2''n'' = 18 chromosomes. The leaves are a further distinguishing characteristic: those of ''Scadoxus'' are thinner and have a distinct stalk (

); those of ''Haemanthus'' are thicker and without a petiole.

Subspecies

Three subspecies are known: *''S. multiflorus'' ssp. ''katharinae'' (Baker) Friis & Nordal – Swaziland and eastern South Africa ::

Synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

: ''Haemanthus katharinae'' Baker, ''Haemanthus multiflorus'' subsp. ''katharinae'' (Baker) I.Bjørnstad & Friis *''S. multiflorus'' ssp. ''longitubus'' (C.H.Wright) Friis & Nordal – west Africa ::Synonyms: ''Haemanthus longitubus'' C.H.Wright, ''Haemanthus multiflorus'' subsp. ''longitubus'' (C.H.Wright) I.Bjørnstad & Friis, ''Haemanthus mannii'' Baker *''S. multiflorus'' ssp. ''multiflorus'' – tropical and southern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula

Distribution and habitat

The species is native to tropical and southern Africa and parts of the Arabian Peninsula. The subspecies ''S. m.'' subsp. ''multiflorus'' is found throughout southern Africa. ''S. m.'' subsp. ''longitubus'' is found across tropical West and Central Africa, including in

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

, and

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

. ''S. m.'' subsp. ''katherinae'' is native to

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

forest, scrub and woodland in eastern southern Africa –

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), commonly referred to as the Cape Province () and colloquially as The Cape (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Co ...

and

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

in South Africa and

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

. It is primarily a plant of moist, shady habitats, including savannah woodlands and forests along rivers and mountains.

Cultivation

''Scadoxus multiflorus'' is chill-sensitive and must be kept at a minimum temperature of , for forms of southern African origin, up to or more for those of tropical origin. An open, well-drained growing medium, largely organic in nature, is recommended.

Propagation Propagation can refer to: *Chain propagation in a chemical reaction mechanism *Crack propagation, the growth of a crack during the fracture of materials *Propaganda, non-objective information used to further an agenda *Reproduction, and other forms ...

is by seed. Pests are those of ''Scadoxus'' generally. ''Scadoxus multiflorus'' subsp. ''longitubus'' is rarely if ever cultivated, although (under the

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

''Haemanthus mannii'') it was described as having been "introduced" in 1877. ''Scadoxus multiflorus'' subsp. ''multiflorus'' is produced for sale in large numbers by the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

horticultural industry. In cultivated forms, the flowers often appear before the leaves, sometimes not until late summer. ''Scadoxus multiflorus'' subsp. ''katherinae'' has been described as "imposing", sometimes reaching a height of , with a strong purple-spotted pseudostem. Red berries may be produced, which can last through the winter. The UK

National Plant Collection A National Plant Collection is a registered and documented collection of a group of cultivated plants in the United Kingdom. National Plant Collections are part of a plant conservation scheme run by Plant Heritage, a registered charity which aim ...

for ''Scadoxus'' has described it as "an excellent plant for a glasshouse or sunny windowsill." In South Africa it can be grown in the open garden in the shade, in well-drained, light soil containing plenty of organic matter. It requires ample water when in growth but must have good drainage when dormant. It will grow under trees provided the soil is sufficiently fertile.

Cultivars

Some artificial hybrids between ''S. multiflorus'' subsp. ''katherinae'' and '' S. puniceus'' are known. Johannes Nicolai raised ''S.'' 'König Albert' which flowered for the first time in 1899. Although rare in cultivation, it multiplies rapidly. Of the same parentage is ''S.'' 'Andromeda', raised by C. G. van Tubergen around 1904. ''Scadoxus multiflorus'' subsp. ''katherinae'' has received the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

Toxicity and uses

The genus ''Scadoxus'' has some strongly toxic species, containing poisonous

alkaloid Alkaloids are a broad class of natural product, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. Some synthetic compounds of similar structure may also be termed alkaloids. Alkaloids are produced by a large varie ...

s lethal to animals, such as sheep and goats, that graze on the leaves or bulbs. ''Scadoxus multiflorus'' is traditionally used in parts of tropical Africa as a component of

s and fishing poisons. It is also used in traditional medicine, although in South Africa less so than ''

Scadoxus puniceus ''Scadoxus puniceus'', commonly known as the paintbrush lily, is a species of bulb, bulbous plant. It is native to much of southern and eastern Africa: Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Eswatini (Swazila ...

''.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2228727 Amaryllidoideae Flora of Africa Flora of Saudi Arabia Flora of Mexico Flora of Oman Flora of Yemen Flora of Seychelles Chagos Archipelago Plants described in 1795