Greek calos – beautiful, stemma – crown, referring to the corona of the flowers.
Perennial herbs with tunicate bulbs. Leaves basal, linear, annual. Flowers in umbels, bisexual, regular, stalked, pink or yellow (rarely white), fragrant. Spathes 2 or 3. Perianth funnel-shaped, the segments united at the base, the lobes obovate with a hard point, slightly spreading. Stamens attached at the mouth, the lower parts expanded into a corona. Ovary inferior, 1-chambered with 2 ovules having parietal placentation. Fruit fleshy, rupturing irregularly.
One of the few Australian bulbous genera, grown for the pink or yellow flowers. Closely related to the tropical genus Proiphys which has 3 native species. All have attractive Hosta-like leaves and are better known in horticulture by the name Eurycles.
Seed.
Leaves 0.5-2.5 cm wide; flower with a corona, the tube 0.5-1.2 cm long; ovary 1-chambered.
2 species from eastern and inland Australia.
Source: (2005). Amaryllidaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.