Ismene, or Peruvian daffodil, is a genus of South American plants in the Amaryllis family.Herbert, William 1821. An Appendix: [General index to the Botanical magazine, vol. 43-48 containing a treatise on bulbous roots] page 45 The species are native to Peru and Ecuador and widely cultivated elsewhere as ornamentals because of their large, showy flowers.Jørgensen, P. M., M. H. Nee & S. G. Beck. (eds.) 2014. Catálogo de las plantas vasculares de Bolivia, Monographs in systematic botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 127(1–2): i–viii, 1–1744.Brako, L. & J. L. Zarucchi. (eds.) 1993. Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Gymnosperms of Peru. Monographs in systematic botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 45: i–xl, 1–1286.
Ismene produces tender perennial bulbs bearing a strong resemblance to those of Hymenocallis, a genus into which Ismene had often been grouped in the past. However, its morphology differs from Hymenocallis in several significant ways: its vegetative parts, natural range, and chromosome number are all distinct.
Taxonomy The genus Ismene was validly described in 1821 by William Herbert with Ismene amancaes as the type species based on previous work by Richard Anthony Salisbury.Ismene Salisb. ex Herb. (n.d.). International Plant Names Index. Retrieved February 7, 2026, from https://www.ipni.org/n/326504-2
Species A list of Ismene species and their geographic distribution is given below. Ismene amancaes (Ruiz & Pav.) Herb – western Peru Ismene hawkesii (Vargas) Gereau & Meerow – Cusco, Peru Ismene longipetala (Lindl.) Meerow – southwestern Ecuador, northwestern Peru Ismene morrisonii (Vargas) Gereau & Meerow – Apurímac, Peru Ismene narcissiflora (Jacq.) M.Roem. – south-central Peru Ismene nutans (Ker Gawl.) Herb. – Peru Ismene pedunculata Herb. – Peru Ismene ringens (Ruiz & Pav.) Gereau & Meerow – Peru Ismene sublimis (Herb.) Gereau & Meerow – La Libertad, Peru Ismene vargasii (Velarde) Gereau & Meerow – Peru
Hybrids Ismene × deflexa Herb. (I. longipetala × I. narcissiflora) – Peru
Phylogeny It is closely related to Leptochiton and Hymenocallis, from which it separated 26.14 million years ago. The separation of Leptochiton and Hymenocallis occurred 24.46 million years ago.Meerow, A. W., Gardner, E. M., & Nakamura, K. (2020). "Phylogenomics of the Andean tetraploid clade of the American Amaryllidaceae (subfamily Amaryllidoideae): unlocking a polyploid generic radiation abetted by continental geodynamics." Frontiers in Plant Science, 11, 582422.
References
External links
Pacific Bulb Society's gallery of photographs