Amaryllis () is the only genus in the subtribe Amaryllidinae (tribe Amaryllideae). It is a small genus of flowering bulbs, with two species. The better known of the two, Amaryllis belladonna, is a native of the Western Cape region of South Africa, particularly the rocky southwest area between the Olifants River Valley and Knysna. For many years there was confusion among botanists over the generic names Amaryllis and Hippeastrum, one result of which is that the common name 'amaryllis' is mainly used for cultivars of the genus Hippeastrum, widely sold in the winter months for their ability to bloom indoors. Plants of the genus Amaryllis are known as belladonna lily, Jersey lily, naked lady, amarillo, Easter lily in Southern Australia or, in South Africa, March lily due to its propensity to flower around March. This is one of numerous genera with the common name 'lily' due to their flower shape and growth habit. However, they are only distantly related to the true lily, Lilium. In the Victorian language of flowers, amaryllis means "love, beauty, and determination", and can also represent hope and achievement. Description Amaryllis is a bulbous plant, with each bulb being in diameter. It has several strap-shaped, hysteranthous, green leaves with midrib, long and broad, arranged in two rows. Each bulb produces one or two leafless, stout, persistent and erect stems tall, each of which bears at the top a cluster of two to twelve zygomorphic, funnel-shaped flowers without a tube. Each flower is diameter with six spreading tepals (three outer sepals, three inner petals, with similar appearance to each other). The usual color is white with crimson veins, but pink or purple also occur naturally. Stamens are very shortly connate basally, declinate, unequal. Style is declinate, stigma is three-lobed. Ovules are approx. 8 per locule. Seeds are compressed-globose, white to pink. The number of chromosomes is 2n = 22. Taxonomy The single genus is in subtribe Amaryllidinae, in the tribe Amaryllideae. The taxonomy of the genus has been controversial. In 1753 Carl Linnaeus created the name Amaryllis belladonna, the type species of the genus Amaryllis. At the time both South African and South American plants were placed in the same genus; subsequently they were separated into two different genera. The key question is whether Linnaeus's type was a South African plant or a South American plant. If the latter, Amaryllis would be the correct name for the