Amaryllis and Hippeastrums: Any Idea What These Are?, 1 by raydio

raydio wrote:
Tranquil (and Kelli too)--

Theodore L. Mead was an avid plantsman working in Oviedo, Florida in the late 1800s and early 20th century. He developed and sold his own amaryllis hybrids (and bred caladiums and orchids as well.) He also had a collection of over 200 kinds of palms. And much more.

Anywho--

As was hinted at, a seed strain is a hybrid or selection whose characteristics has stabilized and "comes true from seed", as we say, when self-pollinated, unlike an F1 or complex hybrid that generally results in mixed progeny. I haven't been able to identify how the strain was created. The answer might be in Mead's papers and letters at Rollins College in Florida.
http://aspdev2.rollins.edu/OlinLibrary/archives/mead.htm

Kelli-- I have some bulbs (from India) sold as H. vittatum, but I have been unable to confirm that it is the species. One major question I have is that the flowers on mine do not have a prominently "bristled" nectary ring-- the point of insertion of the style into the head tepal. Traub says the opening is "obscure"-- I take that to mean hidden in the midst of the "bristles". Vittatum is quite variable in nature anyway, but this feature seems to be one observed in all vittaum, despite the differences in the amount and distribution of red on the white tepals.

Hamilton Traub describes the flower as having a one inch (2.5cm) tepal tube (the portion of the flower from the tepal bases in the center, back to the start of the ovary.) It isn't easy to get an accurate measurement without damaging a flower, but it can be done. Those on my plant are *much* shorter than that.

Traub also describes the tepal width as 2.5-3.8 cm. A selected strain might have tepal widths greater than those, and while still purely H. vittatum, it isn't a form found in the wilds, having been engineered a bit by a breeder.

My "vittatum" looks a lot like yours: