PlantPeers
Back to Catalog
No image available
Amaryllidaceae FAMILY

Lycoris squamigera

Lycoris squamigera

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
0/5

Safety & Hazards

The bulb contains toxins and must be leached before it is used for food[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitBulb
Growth—

Requires a deep well-drained sandy soil rich in organic matter in full sun[2]. The bulb should be planted quite shallowly so that it can ripen well after flowering[3]. Hardy to at least -15°c, the leaves are produced in early spring and persist until late summer[2]. Plants need a warm period in late summer in order to ripen the bulbs and induce flowering in the following year[4]. A very ornamental species, each bulb producing a number of flowering stems in mid to late summer[3]. The flowers are very sweetly scented, the scent pervading the whole garden[3]. Plants are attractive to slugs and need to be protected from them[2]. Very sensitive to root disturbance, the bulbs can take some years to become well established[2].

Propagation

The seed is best sown as soon as it is ripe in a greenhouse and should germinate in the spring[2]. Sow the seed thinly so that it does not need to be disturbed for its first year of growth. Give an occasional liquid feed during the growing season to ensure the plants do not become nutrient deficient. Pot up the small bulbs when the plants become dormant, placing 2 bulbs in each pot. Grow them on for another 2 years in the greenhouse before planting them out when they are dormant. Division of offsets in the dormant season[2]. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Lycoris+squamigera>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]Tanaka's Cyclopedia of Edible Plants of the World. — Tanaka. T. & Nakao S. · Keigaku Publishing; Tokyo · 1976 · ISBN - ↩︎The most comprehensive list of edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.
  2. [2]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  3. [3]Scented Flora of the World. — Genders. R. · Robert Hale. London. · 1994 · ISBN 0-7090-5440-8 ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.
  4. [4]The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers — Brickell. C. · Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd. · 1990 · ISBN 0-86318-386-7 ↩︎Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.
  5. [5]Plants for Human Consumption. — Kunkel. G. · Koeltz Scientific Books · 1984 · ISBN 3874292169 ↩︎An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of Latin names with a brief list of edible parts.