Haemanthus carneus

Description

Haemanthus carneus ('carneus': Latin 'flesh-coloured') is a South African bulbous geophyte in the genus Haemanthus. Despite a fairly wide distribution, it has been collected from only a few scattered sites in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape near Grahamstown and Somerset East, occurring between 300 m and 1200 m above sea level. The bulbs grow in small clumps in the shelter of trees, bushes and rocks. Their tunics are more or less equal with horizontal leaf-scars. Leaves number two or three, usually flat on the ground, appearing with the flowers or following on soon. Peduncles show quite a variation in length from 100 to 200 mm long. H. carneus was first described in 1821 by the English botanist John Bellenden Ker Gawler (1764-1842), first editor of Edward's Botanical Register.