Thirteen Years Later: Amaryllis X Brunsvigia

In 2002, Bill the Bulb Baron kindly sent me a packet of anthers from Brunsvigia josephinae. I used the pollen to make a lot of crosses on Amaryllis "Multiflora" hybrids that I had received from breeding legend Les Hannibal. Some of the crosses set seeds, but to date everything that had bloomed looked just like typical Multiflora flowers.

Until this year:

 The bud emerges, September 16.

 Three days later, the bud is growing.

 The flowers opened a little bit later than most Amaryllis, and towered over them. (They also towered over a nearby Boston Terrier). October 2.

 The flowers were dark magenta.

My file number for this plant is MM 02-39a. The seed parent is a Les Hannibal selection I labeled MLH 09 (link).

I had been pretty sure this plant was a true hybrid, because its leaves are gray-green and broader than typical Amaryllis leaves. But it sure took a long time to come into bloom.

My experience with this cross is very similar to Martin Grantham's report on his Brunsvigia x Amaryllis hybrids in 2009 (link). His  flowers look very similar to mine.

I'd been hoping for red flowers instead of magenta, but the magenta appears to be standard for this cross. I tried to make some second-generation crosses on this plant, using pollen from B. marginata and B. litoralis, as well as some Amaryllis. None of the crosses set seeds, but one flower that I didn't pollinate set a single small white seed:

I presume this flower was self-pollinated. I planted the seed, pressing it into the surface of the soil in a seed cup. The seed has since developed some tiny red dots on it, meaning that there's at least some biological activity in it.

Come back in 2028 and, if we're all lucky, I'll tell you what its flower looks like.