Naked Lady Lily Identification
Q: I am confused about plants called Naked Lady Lily. Some are listed as Amaryllis belladonna but other catalogs list them as Lycoris squamigera. Can you sort this out?
A: They are both commonly called naked lady, but they are different plants. The Amaryllis is not common in north Georgia because it is often damaged by cold weather. The Lycoris is much more hardy. If you are not sure which pink flower you are seeing, the Lycoris has six petals that are unequally spaced around the bloom, with a noticeable gap between the bottom two petals. Also, it never produces seeds after the flower fades. This situation of there being two different plants called the same name is why we have botanical Latin to differentiate them!