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Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Weeklong Fireballs


Blood Lily, football lily, or Scadoxus multiflorus is a common sight in the tropics a few weeks after the first heavy rains following the long dry season. Our local term for it is lakongha or sometimes others call it lapongha. It actually is a bulb plant that belongs to the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae.  They are native of Africa and Sahara. Here in our country, it seems to be naturalized since we don't know when. 

It is not very famous because they are all green leaves the whole year round. Their leaves dry during the dry season that nothing can be seen of them on the ground.  I have a few mounds planted to them in the backyard, but last March when some friends asked for some bulbs, i can't easily locate them. I actually had difficulty getting some bulbs without hitting and cutting some. When the first heavy rains come, all of them sprouted. The nice thing about them is that the scapes of the flowers emerge first before the leaves. The red spheres stay upright for a whole week, before the leaves start to emerge. Then the whole full year will be devoted for the leaves accumulating energies from photosynthesizing, to nurture the next season batch of the fireballs.

bulbs sprouting after the first heavy rains. 

the umbels starting to show the red heads

the fully blooming umbels

just to show another mound blooming at the back


the tips of each slender filaments are the anthers containing the pollen


a few nectaring visitors, a butterfly


those little black dots are actually stingless bees also nectaring on them


the red color now starting to be pale after 5 days of blooming


they are now starting to dehisce, and the green leaves are growing taller

At the moment they are already fully green leaves, lovely foliage luxuriantly enriching themselves.  They look so vigorous seemingly palatable as salads, oh if only they can be used in green salads! But no, they will just suffice to enliven a dull corner in the garden. The more they grow leaves, the more beautiful their flowers next year will become. 

luxuriously growing blood lily foliage, enlivened by caladiums


8 comments:

  1. What a fascinating and stunning plant! I was unfamiliar with this one, so thanks for the information and the beautiful photos!

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    1. Hi Beth, i guess there are many countries growing this bulb. Or maybe they are subtroical countries unlike yours. Thanks for the comment and visit.

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  2. Ah ! Football Lily AKA Scadoxus multifluorous is one marvellous bulb to grow...We are still awaiting its humongous blooms in our garden.

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    1. It is fully dormant during our dry season that it is difficult to locate as bulbs. This year our rains are late so the blooms are delayed too. Thanks for your visit.

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  3. Those red flowers remind me of ones we have here; the native nz pohutakawa and the polynesian version, we call them our Christmas flowers.

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    1. Because it is red you were reminded of the pohotukawa? But it is a tree with lots of umbels. Yes i know your Christmas tree because i was there in December with all those pohotukawa blooming.

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  4. What gorgeous flowers! They remind me of various bottlebrush trees. Thanks for all the info about them. They look so pretty in bunches.



    My Corner of the World

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  5. Andrea - I can see why your friends might like to have some of these bulbs - they are a stunning plant in flower, and just with the foliage. Glad to see you posting again! Enjoy the rest of your week!

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