Scadoxus puniceus
| Paintbrush lily | |
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| Scadoxus puniceus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Amaryllidaceae |
| Subfamily: | Amaryllidoideae |
| Genus: | Scadoxus |
| Species: | S. puniceus |
| Binomial name | |
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Scadoxus puniceus (L.) I.Friis & I.Nordal |
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Scadoxus puniceus, commonly known as the paintbrush lily, is a species of bulbous plant. It is native to much of southern and eastern Africa: Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland, and South Africa (the Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State and the Northern Provinces).Scadoxus puniceus can be found in cool, shady habitat such as ravines and forests, where it is often found in moist leaf litter. Other common names include snake lily, royal paintbrush, King-of-Candida,African blood lily (English),rooikwas (Afrikaans), isisphompho, and umgola (Zulu). There are nine species of Scadoxus of which three, S. puniceus, S. multiflorus (with 2 subspecies) and S.membranaceus, occur in South Africa.
The bright red, round fruits are about a centimeter wide, and each produces a single opalescent seed.
The genus was named by the Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, who did not explain its etymology. The name is possibly from doxus meaning "glory" or "splendour" in Greek, referring to the scarlet flowers; the prefix sca means "obscure" or "hidden", or from the Greek "skia" = shade. One source reports the origin of the name to be unclear. The species name puniceus means "reddish-purple". Previously classified as part of Haemanthus, it was separated mainly because of its stalked leaves.
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Wikipedia