Eucrosia

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Monocots
Ordo: Asparagales

Familia: Amaryllidaceae
Tribus: Stenomesseae
Genus: Eucrosia
Species: E. aurantiaca – E. bicolor – E. calendulina – E. dodsonii – E. eucrosioides – E. mirabilis – E. stricklandii – E. tubiflora
Name

Eucrosia Ker Gawl., 1817
Synonyms

Callipsyche Herb., Edwards's Bot. Reg. 28: 49 (1842).
Stricklandia Baker, Handb. Amaryll.: 105 (1888), nom. illeg.
Neostricklandia Rauschert, Taxon 31: 555 (1982).

References

Ker Gawler, J.B., Botanical Register. 1817.
Mathew, Brian ; Gwilym Lewis. 2006: 557, Eucrosia Mirabilis : Amaryllidaceae. Curtis's Botanical Magazine, 23(2): 157–162.
Meerow, A.W. 1987: A monograph of Eucrosia (Amaryllidaceae). Systematic Botany 12(4): 460–492.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2018. Eucrosia in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2018 Aug. 06. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2018. Eucrosia. Published online. Accessed: Aug. 06 2018.

Eucrosia is a genus of herbaceous, perennial and bulbous plants in the Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae[2]) distributed from Ecuador to Peru. The name is derived from the Greek eu, beautiful, and krossos, a fringe, referring to the long stamens.[3] The genus contains eight species. Phaedranassa and Rauhia are the genera most closely related to Eucrosia.[4]

Description

All the members of the genus are bulbous. The leaves are deciduous, with characteristic long petioles and elliptical or ovate blades (laminae), up to 25 cm wide; they may or may not be present when the flowers are produced. The inflorescence is an umbel of 6–30 weakly to strongly zygomorphic flowers, tubular at the base, green, yellow or red in colour. The stamens hang downwards (i.e. are declinate) and have long filaments which in most species form a cup containing nectaries at the base. The flowers are assumed to be adapted for butterfly pollination, although there is one report of a hummingbird visiting E. eucrosioides. The fruit is a capsule with three locules; the seeds are flattened and winged. The diploid chromosome number is most commonly 2n=46.[4][5]
Species

As of February 2021, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families accepted seven species of Eucrosia:[6]

Eucrosia aurantiaca (Baker) Traub – Southern central Ecuador
Eucrosia bicolor Ker Gawl. – Ecuador to Peru
Eucrosia calendulina Meerow & Sagást. – Peru
Eucrosia dodsonii Meerow & Dehgan – Ecuador
Eucrosia eucrosioides (Herb.) Pax – South western Ecuador to Northern Peru
Eucrosia mirabilis (Baker) Traub – Peru, Ecuador
Eucrosia stricklandii (Baker) Meerow – Ecuador

A formerly accepted species has been moved to the genus Stenomesson:

Eucrosia tubiflora Meerow = Stenomesson tubiflorum (Meerow) Meerow

Distribution and habitat

Eucrosia is restricted to the central Andes of Ecuador and Peru. All of the species are found only in small areas or as small numbers of individuals. Three species are endemic to Ecuador, two to Peru. Three further species are only occasionally found in Peru, being primarily distributed in Ecuador. All but one species of Eucrosia are adapted to seasonally dry habitats, found on the lower, Pacific-facing slopes of the Andes and the adjacent lowlands. The exception is E. dodsonii, which grows in the understory of montane rainforest.[4][5]
Cultivation

In cultivation, all species except the rainforest dweller E. dobsonii can be grown in pots in gritty soil in good light, being kept warm and dry when the leaves wither, and watered when the flowers or leaves begin to grow again. E. dobsonii needs shadier conditions and a more open growing medium. Only E. bicolor is widely grown.[7]
References

"Eucrosia", World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, retrieved 2014-03-28
Stevens, P.F., Angiosperm Phylogeny Website: Asparagales: Amaryllidoideae
Grossi 2010, p. 239
Meerow 1987
Grossi 2010, pp. 240–1
"Search for Eucrosia", World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, retrieved 2021-02-08

Grossi 2010, p. 241

Bibliography
Grossi, Alberto (2010), "Eucrosia in cultivation", The Plantsman, New Series, 9 (4): 239–244
Meerow, Alan W. (1987), "A Monograph of Eucrosia (Amaryllidaceae)", Systematic Botany, 12 (4): 460–492, doi:10.2307/2418883, JSTOR 2418883