Naked Lady Lily – Amaryllis vs Lycoris

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!

Lycoris squamigera

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