Alstroemeria also known as Peruvian Lily or Lily of the Incas is a lovely lily from South America. This flowering plant comprises about 50 species and come from two different places in South America: one in central Chile and another in eastern Brazil. The plants from Chile are winter-growing plants while those from Brazil are summer-growing.
Alstroemeria was named after the Swedish baron Clas Alströmer by his close friend, the famous Swedish botanis, Carolus Linnaeus. The French botanist Louis Feuillée was the first person to describe the Alstroemeria. When Alströmer made a trip to South America in 1753, he brought back seeds of this plant.
The rootstock of the Alstroemeria consists of a slender rhizome or group of rhizomes. The plant's storage roots are sausage-like and used to store water. To a certain extend, the root system of the Alstroemeria resembles that of dahlias. The rootstock can produce up to 80 new stocks per year and each ending with an umbel of 10 or so flowers.
A unique feature of the Alstroemeria is its leaves, which twist from the base as it goes up, so that what we see as the upper leaf surface is actually the lower leaf surface. You can observe this in the leaves of cut flowers. Alstroemeria has very showy flowers which are believed to be pollinated by bees. The petals and sepals of the flowers are the same.
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