Of all the beautiful women in the Amaryllic family, it's the prototype.

Before, I didn't like Zhu Dinghong very much. Every year in late spring and early summer, when I see its huge red flowers, I always feel silly and big.

It turned out to be one of the most popular bulbous plants in the world. Foreigners have great enthusiasm for cultivating horticultural varieties of Zhu Dinghong. So far, thousands of varieties have come out, and new varieties are still being cultivated. What's so good about this flower?

Probably, I almost had a chance to make me interested in it. This opportunity finally came not long ago: when the magnolia blossomed last month.

Fat, thick banded leaves

A scape is drawn from the base

Umbels, inferior to ovary

Perianth 6-lobed, stamens 6

Above is the standard portrait of Amaryllidaceae.

The advantage of a big flower is that the characteristics of each part of it can also be clearly observed by the naked eye. Typical Zhu Dinghong has 4 flowers in each sequence, and the flowers spread horizontally or droop slightly, commonly known as "cannon hitting four doors", which is very vivid. There is a membranous involucral bract at the top of the scape, the ovary above the pedicel and the flowers above the ovary.

The flower of Zhu Dinghong is really big, like a big red trumpet, more than ten centimeters in diameter. The perianth tube of the commissure is very short, but 6 perianth lobes are very long, 3 outer whorls are wide, 3 inner ones are narrow, and there is a thick white rib in the middle of each lobe, visible on both sides. 6 stamens stick to the flower lobes below the inner chakra, the top is warped upward, and the apex of the style is divided into 3.

Flowers horizontal or slightly pendulous, with membranous involucre at base

The outer wheel lobe is wider than the inner wheel, and there is a Burley in the middle.

Style apex 3-lobed

There is a hidden feature that distinguishes Zhu Dinghong from other genera of Amaryllidaceae: there are tiny scales in the throat of the safflower.

There are scales in the throat

The scape of the magnolia is flat, while the scape of Zhu Dinghong is cylindrical, with a layer of white powder on the surface. When you pinch it, you will feel that the scape is hollow-which is more important, because it is related to its past life and this life, as well as a name closely related to it: Amaryllis.

In the earliest days, Linnai, the ancestor of plant taxonomy, named Amaryllis and designated it as the type genus of Amaryllidaceae (which can be understood as the representative of Amaryllidaceae), from which the name Amaryllidaceae of Amaryllidaceae came out. Zhu Dinghong was the earliest member of the genus Solanum, so it is the prototype of the standard photo of this family.

Later, some botanists found that there are actually two major ethnic groups in this family, and their morphological characteristics and distribution areas are not the same. One group of flower stems are solid, distributed in South Africa, this is the genus Solanum, while the other group of flower stems are hollow, mainly distributed in Central and South America, this is later independent of the genus Zhu Dinghong.

However, in today's international flower market, many horticultural varieties of Zhu Dinghong are traded under the name "Amaryllis". It's just so capricious.

Scape hollow

The generic name Hippeastrum of Zhu Dinghong comes from the Greek root hippeus + astron, which means star of knights. In our country, its individual name is "Huayu Orchid", which means that its long and wide leaves are like swords, while safflower is like medals. The addition of the word rutilum means orange-red, referring to the color of flowers.

Fruit and seed

There are about 70 species of the genus Chrysanthemum, and its wild species are concentrated in Brazil, Peru and Bolivia in South America. Since she was introduced to Europe in 1789, Zhu Dinghong has been warmly sought after. California, Florida and the Netherlands of the United States have successively become the research centers of Zhu Dinghong all over the world.

For more than 200 years, Zhu Dinghong has now crossed thousands of varieties of different colors and patterns, and the trading of Zhu Dinghong bulbs has become a big business. its bulb is probably the largest and most typical round in the family Amaryllidaceae.

Zhu Dinghong is a common and popular holiday gift abroad. It blossoms in winter and is the star of Christmas flowers. A single flower has a long flowering period and is suitable for cut flowers. The International Association of Huntington's disease (a genetically degenerated neurological disease) also chose Zhu Dinghong as LOGO.

In the domestic market, Zhu Dinghong is often divided into Tu Zhu and Yang Zhu. The seed balls of Tu Zhu are cheaper, while Yang Zhu is more expensive. In fact, they are all foreign goods, because there is no native species of Zhu Dinghong in our country. The so-called soil Zhu is probably an earlier variety introduced, while Yang Zhu is a relatively new variety. Gardening varieties are my weakness, and the double ones are even more foolish, so I don't dig my own hole and jump by myself. Put a few different varieties to share.

Burley Zhu Dinghong, a common variety in China

Hippeastrum reticulatum var. Striatifolium

Zhang Yongmei. Taken in Xiamen.

Red edge carnation (horticultural variety)

Hippeastrum "Picotee"

Xia. Taken on the balcony of Dalian.

Precepts. Taken in South Australia.

The article and plant pictures (except for the origin) are all original by the author.

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