Hello everyone!

I figure if there's an answer to my question, the folks here will be the ones who know

As the blooms on our Amaryllis fade, I typically snap off the juvenile pods and drop them back in the pot. Sometimes those baby pods continue to fatten up. This year, when I was getting ready to plant the bulbs in the flower bed for the summer, out of curiosity, I opened up the discarded pods. They mostly contained nothing, but one of them had one fat, firm, bulbil-like seed. (Too bad I didn't think to take a picture.) I floated the thing in water on approximately June 10 and noticed it had germinated on June 20. It's presently growing its third leaf (or maybe fourth leaf, if you count the one the cat ate).

I'm used to seeing the papery seeds with what looks/feels like a squashed raisin in the middle. Do "fat" seeds show up pretty often?

Thanks very much!

Michelle/Mrs. B

There are a few people on this forum that germinate and grow Amaryllis from seed. Perhaps one of them can answer your question.

The only Amaryllis I know of that has a bulblike seed is Belladona. Is yours Belladona?

Interesting. Thank you Christie. I'm afraid this is just 'Apple Blossom.'


In a different pot is a big red one, purchased from Wal-Mart 15 or so years ago. Possibly 'Red Lion,' I suppose.


Maybe I'll leave the pods alone this year and see if something interesting happens.

Interesting. Was Apple Blossom self-pollinated? Or pollinated by a different amaryllis?

Unfortunately, I don't have a way of knowing. Both types we had were blooming at the same time last year, and whatever insects were in the house (typically fungus gnats) would have been the likely pollinators.

Uh, oh. It just occurred to me, we bought two orphan "white" Amaryllis a couple days ago (one from Lowe's and one from Wal-Mart) that will probably bloom about the same time 'Apple Blossom' and the red one bloom. Maybe I can take the orphans to work, so they don't interfere with the little experiment.

No hanky panky!!!

As I do every year, I cut a few of my amaryllis stems with flowers and put them in a vase of water. Once the flower dies I usually toss the whole thing away. This year I snipped the flower off first and found these odd soft white, juicy buds at the base of where the flower had been. I read a bit about amaryllis pods that contain seeds. But I think I probably cut the pod in half and this is what was inside? Are they seeds? The stalk is still in water and I am just watching and waiting....and waiting. 4 weeks now. Your thoughts??

Apple Blossom does not produce seeds at all (at least one that I have).

Interesting WiscFlower. Hopefully someone here knows what the overgrown tissue is.

No idea what that is. I wonder if those are early seeds that won't completely develop since they are no longer inside the flower. You need to show that to a university botanist. Maybe they would know.

I wonder it's a kind of gall, a fungal infection similar to a corn smut, the Ustilago maydis.
many of parasitic fungy are specific to a certain group of plant.

Have never seen that before at all - and I pollinate mine and let them seed. The actual seeds will be inside that green pod underneath. But looking at that second photo, it does look like you may have cut the pod in half, so perhaps those are actual seeds that are continuing to form. Very curious. I am with Barb on this - send your photos to your country extension office and ask them - I would love to know.

Well, some of the mystery is solved! The white parts started drying, becoming thinner, turning dark and then fell off. They are seeds!

I still think I must have cut the pod so the seed production was exposed. I will plant them just for fun but know that I won't get flowers for years! The last two flowers on the plant also had pods and I am in the process of watching them dry, with the dead flower still attached.

I t's like a little science project!

wow - quite interesting!