Nerine is a genus of plants belonging to the Amaryllidaceae

Amaryllidaceae

Amaryllidoideae is the subfamily of flowering plants that takes its name from the genus Amaryllis. It is part of the family Amaryllidaceae, in order Asparagales...

 family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae  Native to South Africa, there are about 30 different species in the genus. Nerine have been widely cultivated and much hybridized and are now spread world wide.

It is a bulb

Bulb

A bulb is a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf bases. The leaves often function as food storage organs during dormancy.A bulb's leaf bases, known as scales, generally do not support leaves, but contain food reserves to enable the plant to survive adverse conditions. At the center of the bulb is...

 plant, with each bulb being about 3–5 cm in diameter. In late winter and spring the plant produces several strap-shaped, dull green leaves, about 20 cm long and 1 cm broad, arranged in two rows. The leaves die down by late spring and the bulb is then dormant until late summer.

In fall each bulb produces a single naked stem about 30 cm tall which bears a cluster of 2 to 12 funnel-shaped pink flowers at their tops. Each flower is about 4 cm diameter.

Overall the plant has similar growing characteristics to the Belladonna Lily

Amaryllis

Amaryllis is a small genus of flowering bulbs, with two species. The better known of the two, Amaryllis belladonna, is a native of South Africa, particularly the rocky southwest region near the Cape...

, though it is much smaller. Another similar plant is the Lycoris

Lycoris (genus)

Lycoris is a genus of 13–20 species of flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. They are native to eastern and southern Asia in Japan, southern Korea, eastern and southern China, northern Vietnam, northern Laos, northern Thailand, northern Burma, Nepal, northern...

.

The Nerines are a New Zealand band which is named after this flower.

List of species

Nerine alta Nerine angulata Nerine angustifolia Nerine appendiculata Nerine bowdenii Nerine bowdenii Nerine bowdenii is a species of perennial plant. The common names of the species are Cape Flower, Guernsey Lily, and Japanese Spider Lily. The species was named in 1904 after Athelstan Hall Cornish-Bowden , who had sent bulbs of the plant to England from South Africa.-Description:The plants are ... Nerine brachystemon Nerine breachiae Nerine crispa Nerine curvifolia Nerine duparquetiana Nerine elwesii Nerine falcata Nerine filamentosa Nerine filifolia Nerine flexuosa Nerine frithii

Nerine gaberonensis Nerine gibsonii Nerine gracilis Nerine hesseoides Nerine humilis Nerine huttonii Nerine insignis Nerine krigei Nerine lucida Nerine marginata Nerine marincowitzii Nerine masonorum Nerine moorei Nerine pancratioides Nerine parviflora

Nerine peersii Nerine plantii Nerine platypetala Nerine pudica Nerine pumila Nerine pusilla Nerine rehmannii Nerine ridleyi Nerine sarniensis Nerine schlechteri Nerine transvaalensis Nerine tulbaghensis Nerine undulata Nerine veitchii Nerine versicolor