Pamianthe peruviana Stapf (1933:9315)
Giant Peruvian daffodil, Peruvian daffodil
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Pamianthe cardenasii Traub in Pl. Life 28: 46 (1972)
Pamianthe cardenasii
P. cardenasii was synonymised under P. peruviana by (Meerow, 1984) according to (Meerow et al., 2000), however no such taxonomic decision (whether explicit or implicit) was made in the former paper. It has been regarded as a heterotypic synonym of P. peruviana by (Meerow et al., 2000 [implicitly]; Howard, 2010; POWO, 2025).
The synonymy of P. cardenasii is perhaps not satisfactory as no truly detailed discussion of their respective characters has been published, while it has been reported that they have different life forms (see "Biology & Ecology" below). Geographically, almost all attention has been paid to Peru with only brief mentions of Bolivia, invariably in connection with P. cardenasii. It may be that P. peruviana is endemic to Peru, and that P. cardenasii is a valid but overlooked taxon endemic to Bolivia.
Conservation Status
Extinct in the Wild (Anonymous, 2016, n.d.; Adam Tietz (RBG Sydney))
This taxon is not included among the taxa listed as Extinct in the Wild by (Humphreys et al., 2019; Christenhusz & Govaerts, 2025), nor any other primary or secondary literature as far as I am aware, and has instead only been listed as Extinct in the Wild in the tertiary literature.
Distribution
Bolivia & Peru
Biology & Ecology
The species is an epiphyte (Kubitzki, 1998 fide Zotz et al., 2017; POWO, 2025). Interestingly, its heterotypic synonym P. cardenasii has been reported to be a geophyte (Kubitzki, 1998 fide Zotz et al., 2017).
Hypodigm
Media
https://www.flickr.com/photos/morabeza79/6846004820
https://www.flickr.com/photos/morabeza79/8293571468/
https://strangewonderfulthings.com/437.htm
https://x.com/AdamTietz1/status/1390236514487918593
References
Original scientific description:
Stapf, Otto. (1933b). Pamianthe peruviana. Curtis´s Botanical Magazine 156, tab. 9315: 1-4.
Other references:
Anonymous. (2016, October 10). A celebration of botanical art throughout history – in pictures. The Guardian (online). Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2016/oct/10/a-celebration-of-botanical-art-throughout-history-in-pictures [Accessed 2 June 2024]
Anonymous. (n.d.). Heavenly Henbury Hall. Plant Hunters' Fairs (website). Available at: https://www.planthuntersfairs.co.uk/newsletters/heavenlyhenbury.pdf [Accessed 2 June 2024]
Author? (2012). [article on P. peruviana] The Plantsman (New Series) 11: 29.
Braco, L. and Zarucchi, J. L. (1993). Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Gymnosperms of Peru: 1-1286. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.
Brickell, C. and Sharman, F. (1986). The Vanishing Garden: A Conservation Guide to Garden Plants. United Kingdom: Murray.
Christenhusz, Maarten J. M. and Govaerts, Rafaël. (2025). Plant extinction in the Anthropocene. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 207(3): 183-196. https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/boae045 [Appendix S1]
Govaerts, R. H. A. (2011). World checklist of selected plant families published update Facilitated by the Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Grossi, A. (2009). Pamianthe peruviana. The Plantsman (New Series) 8(4): 236-237. [Abstract]
Howard, Thad M. (2010). Bulbs for Warm Climates. University of Texas Press.
Humphreys, Aelys M., Govaerts, Rafaël, Ficinski, Sarah Z., Lughadha, Eimear Nic and Vorontsova, Maria S. (2019). Global dataset shows geography and life form predict modern plant extinction and rediscovery. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3: 1043-1047. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0906-2 [Supplementary Dataset 1]
Jørgensen, P. M., Nee, M. H. and Beck., S. G. (eds.). (2013). Catálogo de las plantas vasculares de Bolivia. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 127: i-viii, 1-1741. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.
Kubitzki, K. (1998). The families and genera of vascular plants. III Flowering plants. Monocotyledons: Lilianae (except Orchidaceae). Berlin: Springer.
Macbride, James Francis and Dahlgren, B. E. (1936). Flora of Peru. Part 1, No. 3. Field Museum of Natural History. Botanical series 13: 421-768, ii.
Meerow, Alan W. (1984). Two new species of pancratioid Amaryllidaceae from Peru and Ecuador. Brittonia 36(1): 18-25. https://doi.org/10.2307/2806286 [January 1984]
Meerow, Alan W., Guy, C. L., Li, Q.-B. and Yang, S.-L. (2000). Phylogeny of the American Amaryllidaceae based on nrDNA ITS sequences. Systematic Botany 25(4): 708-726. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666729
Meerow, Alan W., Silverstone-Sopkin, Philip A., Zuluaga-Tróchez, Alejandro and Sánchez-Taborda, Jhon A. (2019). A remarkable new species of Pamianthe (Amaryllidaceae) from the Department of Cauca, Colombia. PhytoKeys (115): 73-82. https://doi.org/10.3897%2Fphytokeys.115.30755
POWO. (2025). Plants of the World Online (online resource). Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. Available at: https://powo.science.kew.org/ [Accessed 22 March 2025]
Stapf, Otto. (1933a). Pamianthe peruviana. The Gardeners´ Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette ser. 3(93): 106. f. 51.
Traub, H. P. (1972). Pamianthe cardenasii. Pl. Life 28: 46-48.
Ulloa Ulloa, C., Acevedo-Rodríguez, P., Beck, S. G., Belgrano, M. J., Bernal, R., Berry, P. E., Brako, L., Celis, M., Davidse, G., Gradstein, S. R., Hokche, O., León, B., León-Yánez, S., Magill, R. E., Neill, D. A., Nee, M. H., Raven, P. H., Stimmel, H., Strong, M. T., Villaseñor Ríos, J. L., Zarucchi, J. L., Zuloaga, F. O. and Jørgensen, P. M. (2017). An integrated assessment of vascular plants species of the Americas. Science 358: 1614-1617.
Zotz, G., Schickenberg, N. and Albach, D. (2017). The velamen radicum is common among terrestrial monocotyledons. Annals of Botany 120(5): 625-632. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcx097
https://www.flickr.com/photos/morabeza79/6846004820
https://www.flickr.com/photos/morabeza79/8293571468/
https://strangewonderfulthings.com/437.htm
https://x.com/AdamTietz1/status/1390236514487918593
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamianthe_peruviana