''Zephyranthes robusta'',

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly 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 al ...

''Habranthus robustus'', commonly known as the Brazilian copperlily, pink fairy lily or the pink rain lily, is a species of herbaceous flowering bulb. It is native to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

,, p. 101 but is now naturalized in Florida, Colombia, South Africa, and Mauritius.

Description

''Zephyranthes robusta'' is a relatively large species of rain lily. It grows from

ovate Ovate may refer to: * Ovate (egg-shaped) leaves, tepals, or other botanical parts *Ovate, a type of prehistoric stone hand axe A hand axe (or handaxe or Acheulean hand axe) is a prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used ...

obovate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular ...

bulb In botany, a bulb is structurally a short 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 du ...

s around in diameter. Plants bear solitary lavender to pale pink, funnel-shaped flowers, long, held at a slight angle on scapes, with a leaf-like bract long at the base. Flowers typically appear after rain from late summer to early fall and are followed by large deep green leaves, measuring wide and long.

Taxonomy and nomenclature

''Zephyranthes robusta'' belongs to the genus '' Zephyranthes'' (rain lilies) of the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

Hippeastreae Hippeastreae is a tribe of plants belonging to the subfamily Amaryllidoideae of the Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae). Species in this tribe are distributed in South America. Flowers are large and showy, zygomorphic, with the stamens in varying ...

, within the subfamily

Amaryllidoideae Amaryllidoideae (Amaryllidaceae ''s.s.'', amaryllids) 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 ...

of the amaryllis family (

Amaryllidaceae The Amaryllidaceae are a family of herbaceous, mainly perennial and bulbous (rarely rhizomatous) flowering plants in the monocot order Asparagales. The family takes its name from the genus '' Amaryllis'' and is commonly known as the amaryl ...

). In older classifications, it was sometimes included within the lily family (

Liliaceae The lily family, Liliaceae, consists of about 15 genera and 610 species of flowering plants within the order Liliales. They are monocotyledonous, perennial, herbaceous, often bulbous geophytes. Plants in this family have evolved with a f ...

). Once treated as ''Habranthus robustus'', it is now re-included in ''Zephyranthes''. It is commonly known as the 'pink fairy lily', 'pink rain lily', 'pink zephyr lily', 'pink magic lily', 'pink fawn lily', and 'Colombiaanse mini-amaryllis'. It is known as ''cebollita'' in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

. Due to having the same common names, it is also frequently confused with other 'pink rain lilies' - namely '' Zephyranthes rosea'' and ''

Zephyranthes carinata ''Zephyranthes carinata'', commonly known as the rosepink zephyr lily or pink rain lily, is a perennial flowering plant native to Mexico, Colombia and Central America. It is also widely cultivated as an ornamental and naturalized in the West In ...

'' (also sold under the name ''Zephyranthes grandiflora''). The three species are often mislabeled, but ''Z. robusta'' is easily recognizable from the other two by its larger, more strongly bent (and often asymmetrical), paler pink flowers. ''Z. robusta'' also has leaves covered with a fine grayish waxy coating (glaucous) in contrast to the leaves of ''Z. carinata''.

Distribution and habitat

''Zephyranthes robusta'' is believed to have originated from Rio Grande do Sul of

. It is native to

, and

, and is widely

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...

elsewhere.

Cultivation and uses

''Zephyranthes robusta'' is widely grown as an

ornamental Ornamental may refer to: *Ornamental grass, a type of grass grown as a decoration *Ornamental iron, mild steel that has been formed into decorative shapes, similar to wrought iron work *Ornamental plant, a plant that is grown for its ornamental qua ...

. It is one of the most prolific of the summer flowering rain lilies. They are propagated by dividing the

s (including offsets) and from seed. They are not as tolerant of colder temperatures as other rain lilies.

Chemical composition

The plant contains some toxic compounds like lycorine. Other compound include

galanthamine Galantamine is used for the treatment of cognitive decline in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease and various other memory impairments. It is an alkaloid that has been isolated from the bulbs and flowers of '' Galanthus nivalis'' (Common snowd ...

, 3-epimacronine, hippeastidine, lycoramine, galanthine,

haemanthamine Haemanthamine is a crinine-like alkaloid from the Amaryllidaceae The Amaryllidaceae are a family of herbaceous, mainly perennial and bulbous (rarely rhizomatous) flowering plants in the monocot order Asparagales. The family takes its name f ...

, haemanthidine,

hamayne Hamayne is an alkaloid present in plants of the family Amaryllidaceae, including Iberian ''Narcissus'' species and two Nigerian ''Crinum'' species, reported to have acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity. The product has been made via total syn ...

, tazettine, vittatine, 11-hydroxy vittatine, 8-O-demethylmaritidine.

Toxicity

Similar to the closely related species of '' Zephyranthes'', ''Z. robusta'' contains toxic

alkaloid Alkaloids are a class of basic BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Th ...

s. Mainly

galantamine Galantamine is used for the treatment of cognitive decline in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease and various other memory impairments. It is an alkaloid that has been isolated from the bulbs and flowers of '' Galanthus nivalis'' (Common snow ...

-type alkaloids which can be lethal for humans.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q50881125, from2=Q5636934 robusta Flora of Brazil Flora of Argentina Flora of Uruguay Garden plants of South America Plants described in 1829 Garden plants