Species · genus Hippeastrum · Amaryllidaceae

Barbados Lily

Hippeastrum puniceum (Lam.) Voss

Also known as: Easter Lily · Cacao Lily · Amaryllis Lily

Growth habit

bulbous geophyte

Native range

Bolivia, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela

Hippeastrum puniceum — reference photo — William Curtis · Public domain

Cultivars of H. puniceum

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under H. puniceum yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.

Guide

The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.

The Barbados Lily

Hippeastrum puniceum, also called the Barbados lily or fire lily, is a bulbous perennial in the Amaryllidaceae family. Like others in its genus, it carries strap-shaped leaves and a leafless stem topped with an umbel of large, funnel-shaped flowers, typically appearing in winter or spring.

Source: RHS

A Tropical American Native

This species is native to a wide swath of South Tropical America, including Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, and the Guianas. It has since been introduced far beyond that range, turning up in places as scattered as Hawaii, the Caribbean, Sri Lanka, and parts of Africa. In the wild it grows as a bulbous geophyte in seasonally dry tropical habitats, and it has also seen use as a poison and a medicine.

Source: Kew

Bulb, Strap Leaves, Umbels

As a member of the genus Hippeastrum, this plant is deciduous and bulbous, with slightly fleshy, strap-shaped foliage. Its flowering stems are stout and leafless, rising up to bear an umbel of large, funnel-shaped blooms rather than a single flower.

Source: RHS

Care recipe

The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.

Care notes are early — not yet verified

Light: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Water: ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 7-14d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Bright, indirect

Water

≈ every 14 days

Humidity

Medium

Temperature

13–27 °C

Soil mix

Rich, well-draining bulb mix with grit

Propagation

Offset bulblets separated from the parent bulb

Fertilizing

Feed every 2 weeks after flowering to rebuild the bulb

Growth rate

Moderate

Flowering

Reliable trumpet blooms after a dry rest period

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Toxic to cats & dogs & humans

Amaryllidaceae contain phenanthridine alkaloids (e.g. lycorine), concentrated in the bulb. This is where toxicity lives: every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.

Reference images

Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 7-14d) · ai:claude-fable-5 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (family inference)

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Barbados Lily yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — and a clear photo of your plant are exactly what keep this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.