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Cyrtanthus obliquus and Cyrtanthus herrei

Cyrtanthus belongs to the Amaryllis Family (Amaryllidaceae), with many species present in southern Africa. Mostly they have tubular flowers which are on the small side, but a few have large nodding flowers, including Cyrtanthus obliquus and Cyrtanthus herrei. We do not usually see them in flower simultaneously, since C. obliquus is summer-flowering (mostly June and July here at the Ruth Bancroft Garden in California), while C. herrei is autumn-flowering. However, this year one of our obliquus plants decided to re-flower in the autumn, so this affords an opportunity to cross the two species and see what comes from it. Since C. obliquus comes from the summer-rainfall area, while C. herrei is from the winter-rainfall area, we might hope that the seedlings will happily grow all year long.

-Brian