Amaryllidaceae

Diagnosis: Terrestrial or semi-aquatic herb to ca. 1 m tall from a bulb. Leaves narrow elongate in basal rosette. Inflorescence a scapose umbel to about 80 cm tall. Flowers large, showy, white with long floral tubes and long, red stamens exerted from the corolla; ovary inferior. Fruit a globose to elongate berry. Seeds one to numerous per fruit with a corky seed coat.

Habit: Terrestrial or semi-aquatic herbs to ca. 1 m tall from bulb to ca. 10 cm diameter.

Main axis: Stems reduced to absent or subterranean.

Leaves: Leaves sessile in basal rosette or spiral, ensiform (sword-shaped), to ca. 7 x 50 cm, the margins finely serrulate.

Inflorescence: Inflorescence a scapose umbel to ca. 90 cm long.

Flowers: Flowers large, showy, 4-5 per inflorescence, subsessile, trumpet-shaped; corolla tube to ca. 20 cm long, white to white-green; corolla lobes linear to lanceolate, to ca. 1 x 9 cm, white; stamens free, elongate, exerted from the corolla, the filaments bright red to pink-red.

Fruit: Fruit a berry, globose to cylindrical, coriaceous, green to somewhat glaucous.

Seeds: Seeds one to many per fruit, globose, to ca. 3 cm wide, white to cream, cork-textured.

Ecology: Grows in open bogs of Mauritia palm swamps (aguajales).