The discovery of AmaryllisArial

 The Amaryllis plant is truly extraordinary. It is among the bulbous plants one of the easiest to bloom. In winter, when the days are shorter, there is nothing better than a beautiful Amaryllis flower to embellish your house. In North America, the variety of Amaryllis generally available is found in the genus Hippeastrum. This is a very popular flower for Christmas and New Year's Day.  

There are two types of Amaryllis. The genus Hippeastrum, which is classified in the family Liliaceae. The genus Amaryllis as Amaryllis belladonna and Amaryllis paradisicola which are classified in the family amaryllidacée. Amaryllis belladonna is native to South Africa. She was first discovered. Information suggests that it was brought to Europe during expeditions to the slave trade. Amaryllis hippeastrum was discovered by the German botanist and naturalist Edward Frederick Poeppig. He had traveled extensively in South America. He explored countries such as Chile, Peru and Brazil to collect plant specimens. At the time, he was the third European to navigate the Amazon River along its entire length. It was during his expedition to Chile that he discovered the Amaryllis hippeastrum on a mountainside.      

Hippeastrum name was chosen by the botanist Reverend William Herbert. Hippeastrum comes from Greek and means: hippeus - knight and astron - star. He was very interested to Amaryllis. In 1837, he wrote an important paper on the classification and the origin of species "Amaryllidaceae, an attempt to arrange the monocotyledonous Orders".