THE AFRICAN GARDEN

A Brief Insight into the Distribution
of Amaryllis belladonna

The genus Amaryllis is a genus of two species of bulbs from the Western Cape of South
Africa, Amaryllis belladonna and Amaryllis paradisicola; and lends its name to the family to which it belongs, the Amaryllidaceae.

Confusion reigns with the name of the genus as in the 18^th Century and before many
species were lumped into either Amaryllis or Lilio-Narcissus and these include the genera of Hippeastrum, Sprekelia, Nerine, Crinum and Brunsvigia. Amaryllis is still in use as common name for the genus Hippeastrum.

Amaryllis belladonna also has its common names, in the UK, as 'Belladonna Lilies' or 'Jersey Lily', in South Africa as 'The March Lily', in the United States as 'Naked Lady', in Portugal as 'Bordao de Sao Jose (St. Joseph's Staff), as St. Rosalina in Sicily, or St. Rosa or The Madonna Lily in Italy; and sometimes in Spain as 'Meninas Para Escola', translating to 'Girls going to School' and because they bloom in late September at the
beginning of the school year, when girls in pink uniforms start attending classes.

The name 'Bordao de Sao Jose or 'St. Joseph's Staff' is the most significant name to me, for I have found that the bulb was most likely imported into Europe by the Portuguese in the 16^th Century and probably between 1497 and 1510. "St. Joseph's Staff", in popular
religious tradition, refers to the apocryphal legend that when a spouse for the Virgin Mary, of the Temple virgins, was to be selected, under the supervision of the high priest, from a group of prospects, the staff of Joseph burst into bloom as a divine sign of this selection.
With respect to this legend, Maria Valtorta, in her private revelation, "The Poem of the Man-God", in Volume One, Chapter 12 - "Joseph is appointed Husband of the Virgin" - reports, her vision of the details of Joseph's selection by God to become Mary's husband, viz that each of a number of prospects assembled by the Priest of the Temple for the
selection was asked to present a branch with his name affixed to it, that the one whose branch would miraculously burst into bloom would be the prospect selected.

Relating to the importation of the bulb into Europe we have to use general history as a guide for I have so far found no documented evidence relating to the import of this bulb.
The first European to discover South Africa was Vasco de Gama, who anchored in
St. Helena Bay in 1497 during his voyage to find a route to the Indies to open up the spice trade. He was later followed by Antonio de Saldanha, a Portuguese admiral, who arrived in
Table Bay with his fleet in May 1503. Unfortunately South Africa is not very well
documented by the Portuguese at this time as they found the rugged coast to harsh to land and the natives unpleasant. The countries of Angola and Mozambique were preferred
landing sites and these countries also provided a great wealth in trade, and became
extremely important in the trading of slaves. The area around the Cape at this time only being used for posting messages under stones. However to post messages you had to land and it must have been at this time that Amaryllis belladonna was originally collected and due to its frequency, coastal distribution and floral attributes. It is quite likely at the time that bulbs such as this were quite valuable and would have been collected because of this value. Voyages often being supported by nobility or wealthy merchants at that time and bulbs would have been collected for supplying the gardens of the sponsors.

The slave trade is very important in the distribution of the bulb in and around Europe as Amaryllis belladonna was widely cultivated in the great seafaring and trading nations of Portugal, Spain and Italy. Indeed, the bulb may have two typical distributions across Europe, in the gardens of nobles in major cities, trading ports and possibly the church, but also around the plantation houses of wealthy merchants that were created for the culture of sugar cane; the cash crop of the 16th century, which drove their need for slaves. Cane seeds were first planted in Portugal in the 15^th century, but it was the discovery of the new labour source that spread its culture, and increased the number of plantations across Europe and the New World. The island of Madeira became very important during this era as cane plantations on the island provided a model for plantations in the New World shortly after its discovery.  Indeed many emigrants from Madeira were the first colonists.

It would seem that I'm leaving the original topic behind but rather significantly Amaryllis belladonna is still commonly found in the Canary Islands, Madeira, Spain, Italy and the Azores, which were the main cane growing areas; but rather significantly the bulb is also found in Brazil, but now only in sub-tropical areas which support suite its culture.
Therefore there is a clear link between sugar cane, the Portuguese and Spanish slave trade and the distribution of the bulb. Sir Joseph Banks in his Endeavour Journal 'Plants of Madeira' in 1768 reports Amaryllis belladonna growing on the island but failed to report it as an alien, thus like it is now, it must have been widely distributed across the island before his visit, and this suggests an earlier introduction. Amaryllis are now commonly found in and around the Monte and Camacha areas of Madeira. Information relating to the history distribution of this species has been requested from the Botanical Gardens at Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro, but given the lack of documented evidence for such early importation and distribution, probably the only way of proving any theory is to sample bulbs across Europe that are found in areas of potential historical provenance, and then have these bulbs DNA tested to find if they can be linked to each other. Bulbs have so far been sourced from various important areas for comparison.

Amaryllis belladonna was first brought to the United Kingdom in the early 18^th Century  around 1711 but was not widely grown at all for it wasn't considered hardy. One of the best illustrations of Amaryllis belladonna was published in a Curtis Botanical Magazine of 1804, and I am very pleased to say that a bulb found in Devon very much resembles this
illustration. British bulbs in the 19^th Century bulbs may have been imported from the Cape,
because of the British Colony at Cape Town, from Holland, or similarly they could have come from Madeira because of its close historical and trading ties which date from the
Napoleonic era.

Rather surprisingly there was little or no hybridisation until the mid 19^th Century, and when Bidwell first crossed Brunsvigia with Amaryllis belladonna at the Campden Park
Estate in Australia, home of William Macarthur. This lead to the breeding of numerous Amaryllis and Brunsvigia hybrids in Australia up until the 1920s. The earliest being
referred to as Brunsvigia multiflora and later as Amaryllis multiflora, but now as
x Amarygria. Until now the only plants to survive in cultivation from this era and from the Campden Park Estate is x Amarygria parkeri 'Alba' introduced by Lady Parker, daughter of William Macarthur.

David Fenwick