Bot. [adopted by Linnæus, from L. Amaryllis, a. Gr. Ἀμαρυλλίς, name of a country-girl in Theocritus, Ovid and Virgil.] A genus of autumn-flowering bulbous plants, typical of the N.O. Amaryllidaceæ, species of which are cultivated as garden or hot-house flowers; applied also by florists to allied genera.
1794. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xviii. 246. Amaryllis; known by its superior, bell-shaped corolla of six petals.
1834. Pringle, Afr. Sk., vi. 209. The large purple flowers of a species of amaryllis.
1855. Tennyson, Daisy, iv. Here and there, on sandy beaches A milky-bell’d amaryllis blew.
1866. T. Moore, in Treas. Bot., 48. Most of the plants called Amaryllis in gardens are now referred to Hippeastrum.
