Ammocharis coranica

Ammocharis coranica is a very easy amaryllid to grow.  Its range includes the summer-rainfall and arid Karoo regions of South Africa and extends into Angola and Zimbabwe.  Consonant with such a broad habitat, it seems to be opportunistic, producing new growth whenever water is available, regardless of the season.  If watered year-round, it will remain evergreen, but it will bloom most reliably if given a dry dormancy.  For convenience, I store my bulb completely dry in the cool, dark crawl space of our house during the winter.  When I bring it out in the spring, it starts growing very rapidly and usually flowers within two weeks of the first watering.  The flowers are very fragrant, though rather short-lived.  Often, a second or third inflorescence will follow in a few weeks.

The leaves, forming a loose rosette, continue lengthening as long as water is available but turn yellow and detach at the level of the bulb when the soil dries out.  In the photo above, the leaves have blunt, squared-off tips, because they died back to the bulb last autumn.  Any new leaves that emerge from the center of the bulb will have more tapered tips.

I suspect A. coranica would be hardy in the piedmont if the bulb were planted deep enough, but the rather short inflorescence is probably better displayed in a pot.  My plant has not produced any offsets, and it does not seem to be self-fertile.  I should have bought more than one bulb when I had the chance.

(Note to self:  when photographing plants late in the day, remove white I.D. tags that reflect the setting sun.)