Alstroemeria L.

Overview

Alstroemeria belongs to its own family, Alstroemeriaceae; Kew gives its native range as southern Venezuela to the far south of South America. The RHS notes that they come from South America, hence the name Peruvian lily, though they are related to neither lilies nor daffodils.

They are fleshy-rooted herbaceous perennials that grow from bulb-like tubers, die back in winter and regrow in spring, and are generally hardy in the UK (RHS). WCVP records A. aurea as native to central and southern Chile and southern Argentina, A. pelegrina (the plant in the plate above) only to central Chile, and A. psittacina to Brazil, Paraguay and northern Argentina.

Classification and naming

Linnaeus published the genus in 1762 in Planta Alströmeria (cited by WCVP as Pl. Alströmeria: 8). Segregate genera such as Ligtu and Lilavia are now included and appear as synonyms below; a few of the species WCVP accepts are natural hybrids (names with ×).

Distribution

WCVP records the genus as native to 16 TDWG botanical regions and introduced in 16 more.

Argentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestArgentina SouthBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralChile CentralChile NorthChile SouthParaguayPeruUruguayVenezuela

Introduced

AlabamaCanary Is.FloridaFranceGeorgiaGreat BritainLouisianaMadeiraMexico SouthwestMississippiNew South WalesNew Zealand NorthNew Zealand SouthNorfolk Is.TasmaniaVictoria

Accepted species

WCVP accepts 138 species; names with × are natural hybrids. The count changes with revisions; checked 2026-10-24.

Historic plates

Plates in date order; the printed names are kept as they appear, current names are on the species pages and the topic page.

• 

  Alstroemeria Pelegrina

  Curtis's Botanical Magazine · 139 · 1790
  
• 

  Alstroemeria psittacina

  Curtis's Botanical Magazine · 3033 · 1830
  William Jackson Hooker, Joseph Swan
• 

  Alstroemeria pallida

  Curtis's Botanical Magazine · 3040 · 1831
  Robert Kaye Greville, Joseph Swan
• 

  Alstroemeria aurea

  Curtis's Botanical Magazine · 3350 · 1834
  Mrs James McNab, Joseph Swan

Picking and cut-flower handling

The RHS explains that garden alstroemerias are pulled, not cut: grasp the stem low down and give a quick upward tug, which takes out part of the stem below ground and prompts a new bud; in the first summer after planting, though, the stalks are best cut. They are long-lived cut flowers, staying fresh for about two weeks in a vase.

Floralife advises harvesting when at least one flower per stem is open and its petals are beginning to reflex, with no leaf yellowing and strong stems. Store at 1–3 °C and 75–85% relative humidity; vase life is 7–14 days. Most varieties are ethylene-sensitive, showing wilting, petal drop, water-soaked petals and yellowing leaves, and an ethylene action inhibitor prevents flower and petal drop. The leaves yellow long before the flowers fade, especially in foam, so stripping them is often advisable, or a conditioning product can prevent it. The stems are soft and easily damaged in foam; anti-pathogen transport paper helps in storage and shipping.

Further reading

• Flower guide
• Reference library

References

1. WCVP · World Checklist of Vascular Plants (via ChecklistBank dataset 2232) · accessed 2026-10-24
2. Kew (POWO data on the ColPlanta site) · Alstroemeria native range
3. RHS · How to grow alstroemerias
4. Floralife · Alstroemeria care and handling