Agapanthus, African Lily (Agapanthus africanus)
Agapanthus is also known locally a star of Bethlehem, and elsewhere as the blue African lily or lily of the Nile, although this river is far from its native South Africa. It is grown in many Bermuda gardens and, with very little effort, this perennial plant rewards the gardener with long-lasting, showy flowers.
Agapanthus Africanus is introduced to Europe from the mountains of South Africa as a result of Dutch exploration and was noted in 1629 by John Parkinson in what is described as “the first great British gardening book”. Parkinson was an apothecary appointed to James I and Charles I. I don’t know when agapanthus was introduced to Bermuda, but it was certainly here by 1883 when it was mentioned by O.A. Reade in his book Plants of the Bermudas. Reade was a pharmaceutical chemist at the Dockyard who added about one hundred and fifty plants to prior lists of plants in Bermuda.
Agapanthus is described botanically as an herb, growing from thick underground stems. It has long, strap-shaped leaves that are slightly succulent and a little waxy. The flower stalks rise several feet above the leaves and bear, at the top, a globe-shaped cluster of flowers (photo) looking like an exploding firework. The individual, tubular flowers are held on long stems and, after flowering, produce three-sided capsules (photo) containing many black, winged seeds.
Agapanthus hybridizes easily, so much garden material may be of mixed origin. Flowers can be varying shades of lavender and sometimes white. There is even a dwarf agapanthus. Depending on the weather and which varieties you have growing, you can have flowering agapanthus for much of the summer. The shorter, dark blue agapanthus flower in early June, the white ones mid-summer, and the very tall, pale blue ones later in the summer.
The scientific name comes from the Greek agape meaning love, and anthos a flower; africanus means ‘from Africa’. Botanists do not seem to be able to agree in which family Agapanthus belongs. Notwithstanding, it is closley related to spider lily, crinum lily, narcissus, rain lilies, onion, garlic and leek – all of which grow in Bermuda.
Bermuda’s Flora Volume 1 & Volume 2 by Lisa Green are both available at the Bermuda Bookstore.
