The Genus Clivia
In September 1815 the first scientific collection of a clivia was made near the mouth of the Great Fish River in the Eastern Cape Province by the intrepid explorer and naturalist William Burchell. Similar plants were collected from the same area a few years later in the early 1820's by James Bowie and sent to England, where in 1828 Kew botanist John Lindley described them as Clivia nobilis in honour of Lady Charlotte Florentine Clive, Duchess of Northumberland.
Clivia is part of the Amaryllid family (Amaryllidaceae; Haemantheae).
There are at present five described species of Clivia , namely C. nobilis, C. miniata, C. gardenii, C. caulescens and C. mirabilis. Another distinct form, referred to as the "Swamp clivia", is found in southern KwaZulu-Natal |
