Cladus: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Divisio: Magnoliophyta
Classis: Liliopsida
Subclassis: Liliidae
Ordo: Asparagales
Familia: Alliaceae
Tribus: Stenomesseae
Genus: Eucrosia
Species: E. aurantiaca - E. bicolor - E. calendulina - E. dodsonii - E. eucrosioides - E. mirabilis - E. stricklandii - E. tubiflora

Name

Eucrosia Ker Gawl., 1817

Synonyms

* Callipsyche Herb., Edwards's Bot. Reg. 28: 49 (1842).
* Stricklandia Baker, Handb. Amaryll.: 105 (1888), nom. illeg.
* Neostricklandia Rauschert, Taxon 31: 555 (1982).

References

* John Bellenden Ker Gawler Botanical Register. 1817.
* Mathew, Brian ; Gwilym Lewis. 2006: 557, Eucrosia Mirabilis : Amaryllidaceae. Curtis's Botanical Magazine, 23(2): 157-162.
* Meerow, A.W. 1987: A monograph of Eucrosia (Amaryllidaceae). Systematic Botany 12(4): 460-492.
* Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: Eucrosia.

Eucrosia is a genus of herbaceous, perennial and bulbous plants in the Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae) distributed from Ecuador to Peru. The name is derived from the Greek eu, beautiful, and krossos, a fringe, referring to the long stamens.[5] The genus contains eight species. Phaedranassa and Rauhia are the genera most closely related to Eucrosia.[6]

Distribution and habitat

Three species are endemic to Ecuador and two to Peru; three additional, largely Ecuadorean, species are occasional in Peru. Eucrosia is primarily a xeric, lowland, floristic element, inhabiting seasonally dry vegetation of the lower, western slopes and Pacific coastal lowlands, with a single species adapted to montane rainforest understory (E. dodsonii).[6][7]

Description

All the members of the genus are bulbous. The leaves are deciduous, with characteristic long petioles and elliptical or ovate blades (laminae), up to 25cm wide; they may or may not be present when the flowers are produced. The inflorescence is an umbel of 6–30 weakly to strongly zygomorphic flowers, tubular at the base, green, yellow or red in colour. The stamens hang downwards (i.e. are declinate) and have long filaments which in most species form a cup containing nectaries at the base. The most common somatic chromosome number is 2n = 46. The flowers are thought to be adapted for butterfly pollination, but a single report of hummingbird visitation is recorded for E. eucrosioides. The fruit is a capsule with three locules; the seeds are flattened and winged.[6][8]

In cultivation, all species except the rainforest dweller E. dobsonii can be grown in pots in gritty soil in good light, being kept warm and dry when the leaves wither, and watered when the flowers or leaves begin to grow again. E. dobsonii needs shadier conditions and a more open growing medium. Only E. bicolor is widely grown.[9]

Species

The list of Eucrosia species, with their complete scientific name and authority, and geographic distribution is given below.[10]

* Eucrosia aurantiaca (Baker) Traub, Pl. Life 22: 62 (1966). Southern central Ecuador.
* Eucrosia bicolor Ker Gawl., Bot. Reg. 3: t. 207 (1817). Ecuador to Peru.
* Eucrosia calendulina Meerow & Sagást., Sida 17: 761 (1997). Peru.
* Eucrosia dodsonii Meerow & Dehgan, Brittonia 37: 47 (1985). Ecuador.
* Eucrosia eucrosioides (Herb.) Pax in H.G.A.Engler & K.A.E.Prantl (eds.), Nat. Pflanzenfam. 2(5): 115 (1887). South western Ecuador to Northern Peru.
* Eucrosia mirabilis (Baker) Traub, Pl. Life 22: 62 (1966). Peru, Ecuador.
* Eucrosia stricklandii (Baker) Meerow, Phytologia 58: 499 (1985). Ecuador.
* Eucrosia tubiflora Meerow, Brittonia 37: 305 (1985). Peru.

References

1. ^ Bot. Reg. 3: t. 207 (1817).
2. ^ Edwards's Bot. Reg. 28: 49 (1842).
3. ^ Handb. Amaryll.: 105 (1888), nom. illeg.
4. ^ Taxon 31: 555 (1982).
5. ^ Grossi 2010, p. 239
6. ^ a b c Meerow 1987
7. ^ Grossi 2010, pp. 240–1
8. ^ Grossi 2010, pp. 240–1
9. ^ Grossi 2010, p. 241
10. ^ Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. World Checklist of Monocotyledons: Eucrosia. Accessed June 1 2009.

Bibliography

* Grossi, Alberto (2010), "Eucrosia in cultivation", The Plantsman (New Series) 9 (4): 239–244
* Meerow, Alan W. (1987), "A Monograph of Eucrosia (Amaryllidaceae)", Systematic Botany 12 (4): 460–492, http://www.jstor.org/pss/2418883, retrieved 2011-01-09