I'm sure this has been asked before, but does anyone know why many varieties of patterned amaryllis are top-heavy when it comes to the coloring?

Here are some examples:

I never really thought about this before, but it is quite evident when you post these photos in mass. There is nothing about patterning in Veronica Read's Hippeastrum book, which is my go-to book on basics of breeding and care of Hippeastrum. Well, now I am interested. Is there a plant geneticist out there who knows the answer?

@admmad - Maurice, you don't happen to know the answer to this, do you? You're very knowledgeable with genetics in general...

DogsNDaylilies said:@admmad - Maurice, you don't happen to know the answer to this, do you? You're very knowledgeable with genetics in general...

I searched for any research that looked at the flower colours in Hippeastrum and unfortunately there is very little and it is not known why there might be more pigment on one side of the flowers versus the other.

I can make two guesses; they would not be mutually exclusive.

One is that in the bud the flower parts might be more or less stacked on top of each other with sepals covering petals and parts of upper petals overlapping and covering parts of lower petals (etc.).

The other is that the buds might be more or less arranged horizontally rather than vertically while they develop. The flower parts in the top half of the bud would "cover" or shade the flower parts in the bottom half of the bud.

If either or both of these is the case then since anthocyanin pigments are strongly affected by both temperature and the amount of light and the "lower" petal would be shaded/shadowed by the upper petal and sepals it might develop less anthocyanin pigment

Maurice, thank you for your input! Well-presented, as always. The sunlight idea had occurred to me, but I didn't give it enough thought until you posed both of your ideas. It makes me think, now...

Considering the location that I have for my amaryllis indoors, I could see if the latter holds weight in my growing conditions. I've been keeping my amaryllis pots on the second floor of my home where they receive bright, indirect light with consistent temperature, meaning no sun to change the temperature from the top of the bloom to the bottom. And before you go getting all technical on me about how heat rises, let me state that I don't think 1/2" - 1" will make enough of a difference in my house to account for temperature-related pigment changes.

Unfortunately, the varieties I have all seem to be varieties without the "top-heavy" pigmentation, but if I acquire the Butterfly (Papilio) Amaryllis or one of the others that appear to have extra pigment on the top, I'll see what happens in my home.

By the way, now that I'm getting more into amaryllis and hybridizing, in general, I'm curious to know what varieties I have. I much prefer the idea of hybridizing with known CVs rather than NOIDs. It would seem that one of my varieties (which bloomed this summer) is Hippeastrum striatum. Considering how common the Red Lion variety is, my single red is probably that one. I also have another one whose exact color I forget--maybe more of a pink or fuschia?--that I would love to try and ID so that I feel better about crossing it with one of these patterned daylilies. :)

I'm curious how many patterned-amaryllis hybridizers there are here on ATP. That might be a question/discussion for a different thread, though.

Anyone made any other crosses lately? I just crossed Picotee x Naranja this last winter. Got about 80 seedlings which all seem to be doing fine - gave some of them to 2 friends of mine, but I still have a lot myself. This little bunch has grown much faster than I thought, so going to transplant them into individual little pots very soon.

Would be interested to know what other crosses have been made lately.

Gervase on the right presents a little different

Looking at this gallery of Amaryllis : http://usna.usda.gov/PhotoGall... it appears that the colors are pretty evenly distributed. Perhaps some of us are more attracted to that coloration that has been bred into them, or its just what is offered to the purchasing public. Just a thought.

hi wonderful pictures we only get to buy them late autumn, in uk usually from asda or tesco often you only get 2 odd flowers and colours pink,red, white, or mixed pinks or reds, but there nice for christmas or often just after but never grow them outside in summer

Hi Janet,

We have the same issue over here, only able to get the the amaryllis in the fall, I used to force them for Christmas...but now set them out in the Spring and let them bloom at that time. I have them all in containers and they seem to do great!

RJ, I think you should be able to get them to bloom again again at Christmas for you, even if they bloom in spring. It happens for me on some of my amaryllis bulbs.