Amaryllis, a name to keep – Part 1

Where I live, pink flowers pop up on leafless stems in profusion every August. It’s early September now. Many are withered, soon to fall onto the ground. I happened on some the other day while walking my dog. Next time I pass by that way, the’ll likely be thinned out, the remainders drooping farther down. The first time I saw these flowers I was riding in the car with my husband the first August we lived in Sonoma County. They’d cropped up along roadsides all over the place. He waved at them and said, “The naked ladies have returned.” The name made me squirm a bit.

Many years have gone by since then. I haven’t given the name of these flowers much thought. Then in August of last year, my daughter, granddaughters and I were riding home through Mendocino County after an adventure on the Skunk Train. The flowers were blooming in abundance as they always do, and I happened to say. “I bet a man came up with the name “naked ladies.” My daughter agreed and said, “We should call them ‘naked gentlemen.’” That struck all four of us in the car funny. It’s probably one of those you-had-to-be-there kind of thing, but we couldn’t stop laughing. Every time we passed some, which was often, we’d say something like, “Oh no, don’t look! It’s the naked gentlemen. That kept us chortling and giggling on and off for the most of the ride home.

This year, the four of us chuckled at the old joke while on a recent ride, but it didn’t strike us as hilarious as it had last year. It was more the passing enjoyment of a sharing fun memory. At home later I wondered what the official name was for these flowers. I looked it up, thinking it would be some obscure Latin or Greek word. The name turned out to be Amaryllis belladonna, also known as belladonna lily. I was immediately intrigued. Amaryllis sounded vaguely familiar, but I thought that was probably because it brought Amarillo, Texas to mind (not that I’ve ever been there or know anything about the place beyond its location). Belladonna brought poison to mind. I dug a little further and found out Amaryllis is the name of a nymph, who is the central character in a story inspired by Greek mythology. The qualities of Amaryllis, the nymph, are an excellent fit for Amaryllis belladonna, the flower. I’m in the process of creating my own version of that story and will share it in my next blog post. And belladonna, well, I’ll explore that at some point, too.