Zephyranthes - Flowers

Flowers

Flower color in the species ranges from white to yellow (various tints of this color from lemon to sulfur) and pink. Zephyranthes have erect flower stalks which support a flower that may be upward facing or slightly nodding. The funnel-shaped, flowers with six petals can be crocus shaped, but may also open flat such as in Z. jonesii or even reflex slightly.

The flowers of some species have a sweet, pleasant fragrance. Fragrance appears to be recessive in crosses, but there are a few species or hybrids, Z. drummondii (white), Z. morrisclintae (pink) and Z. jonesii (light yellow), that all carry the trait. At least two of these open their flowers at night and are attractive to nocturnal insects. The flowers typically last only for a day or two; but new flowers may appear in a succession of blooms, especially during humid or rainy weather.

Various members of the genus may bloom spring only or repeat and continue into autumn, often a few days after rainstorms thus one of the common names, rain lilies. Periods of synchronous bloom, which breeders have dubbed "blitzes", are part of their ornamental value, but also times breeders exploit for the purpose of producing new hybrids.

Most species under cultivation will bloom without the naturally imposed drought and wet that occurs in nature. Greenhouse grown plants bloom very freely but cycle through periods of bloom. One of the longest blooming of all the species is Z. primulina which blooms from April until October. Although it is apomictic, it is a choice parent for crosses because of its rapid repeat flowering trait and long bloom season. Some other species such as Z. morrisclintae appear to bloom only in the spring season. Most of these species are easily propagated vegetatively via offsets or twin scaling. A few of them such a Z. clintae are slow to produce increase.

Unusual phenotypes can be preserved vegetatively. Sexual reproduction is via seed. The apomictic species freely set seed and faithfully reproduce the maternal phenotype. Sterility in hybrids can be problematic;reasons for this are mentioned below. Seed usually is best sown quickly after harvest, although short term storage can be successful. Maiden seedling can be brought into bloom for some of the hybrid in 8–12 months after sowing in ideal conditions. This makes it easy to carry out checks for apomixis.