This is supposed to be Exotica, but to my eyes it much more closely resembles Terra Cotta Star. Does anyone know if either or both of these varieties are fragrant? If only one of them is fragrant, then that would settle the question definitively. I could find no place online that mentions fragrance for either of them.

Fragrance isn't such a common trait in hippeastra that I'm surprise it's not more consistently noted. It's such a treat. This one was strong enough that, at its peak, I could smell it walking into the room. It's not a cloying sweetness, just fresh and delightful.

Exotica is not fragrant. Not sure about Terra Cotta Star though, but it did not say so if you look it up at emaryllis,com, so maybe not. Looks more like Terra Cotta Star to me.

Your photo does remind me of Terra Cotta Star. Exotica and Terra Cotta Star are similar, and I wonder if they might be related. I believe that the older Exotica is translucent and has a fairly pale base color with coral markings. Terra Cotta has a darker base color, with coral markings. How long have you had this bulb? Terra Cotta has only been widely available in the last two years. I suspect that Terra Cotta has supplanted Exotica in the trade. I am not an expert on fragrance. Years of antihistamine and decongestant use has destroyed my sense of smell.

Barbara, I've had this for just a year. My mother in law got it as Exotica, but she's terrible with plants do I rescued it from her. I think you may be right. Easy To Grow Bulbs offers Exotica which what looks like this flower, which doesn't give me much confidence in them.

Christie, Emaryllis is one of my favorite websites. I've noticed though that they don't always note that a variety is fragrant. Fragrance doesn't seem to be a priority with hippeastrum collectors. For me though it makes a variety so much more desirable. I wish I had a list of all the fragrant hippeastra and their descriptions!

Oh, is hippeastra the plural, or is it hippeastrums?

You were correct in saying the plural of Hippeastrum is Hippeastrums.

Tienito said: I wish I had a list of all the fragrant hippeastra and their descriptions!
Oh, is hippeastra the plural, or is it hippeastrums?

I did find this list on Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/matt...

Christie, interesting batch of photos on www.pinterest.com/matt. Good for IDing But I wonder where he got the info on fragrance. Does he consider all of the ones on that site to be fragrant, since there were sure a lot of them. That was a surprise.

From reading it, I think he did - he said he had 18 on his list. But I also think some of the ones he listed are just barely fragrant, so not sure how much that counts. But if you were going to breed a fragrant one of your own, his list might be a good place to start.