Hippeastrum Herb.

Overview

Hippeastrum belongs to the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae; Kew gives its native range as Central and tropical South America. The RHS notes that hippeastrums are popular Christmas gifts, commonly known as amaryllis. The true Amaryllis is a different genus: WCVP accepts only a handful of species, such as Amaryllis belladonna, all from the Cape Provinces of South Africa.

Flora of the Cayman Islands describes bulbous plants with several flat, entire leaves and large, showy flowers, usually two or more in an umbel at the top of a hollow, leafless scape.

Classification and naming

Herbert published the name in 1821. Early plates often placed its species in Amaryllis: the plate above is Amaryllis vittata from Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, plate 129 (1790), now Hippeastrum vittatum, which WCVP records as native to southern Brazil, north-eastern Argentina and Bolivia. Flora of the Cayman Islands gives about 75 species; the number WCVP accepts today is in the table below.

Distribution

WCVP records the genus as native to 18 TDWG botanical regions and introduced in 42 more.

Argentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaEcuadorFrench GuianaGuyanaParaguayPeruSurinameUruguayVenezuela

Introduced

Accepted species

WCVP accepts 119 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.

• 

  Amaryllis vittata

  Curtis's Botanical Magazine · 129 · 1790
  Sydenham Edwards, W. Darton
• 

  Amaryllis equestris

  Curtis's Botanical Magazine · 305 · 1795
  
• 

  Amaryllis reginae

  Curtis's Botanical Magazine · 453 · 1799
  Sydenham Edwards
• 

  Amaryllis reticulata

  Curtis's Botanical Magazine · 657 · 1803
  Sydenham Edwards
• 

  Amaryllis crocata

  Edwards's Botanical Register · 38 · 1815
  Sydenham Edwards, Smith

Growing and safety

The RHS advises that hippeastrum is a tender bulb to be grown in pots indoors. Plant from October to January in pots only a little larger than the bulb, with two-thirds of the bulb above the surface; flowers follow about six to eight weeks after planting, from winter to spring. After flowering, cut the spent spikes to the base but keep the leaves growing.

The ASPCA’s amaryllis entry lists these plants as toxic to dogs, cats and horses, with lycorine and other compounds as the toxic principles; signs include vomiting (not in horses), depression, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, hypersalivation, anorexia and tremors.

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) · Hippeastrum, with genus description from Flora of the Cayman Islands
3. RHS · Hippeastrum
4. ASPCA Animal Poison Control · Amaryllis