Zephyranthes tubispatha

Rio Grande Copperlily is a summer flowering herbaceous perennial from a bulb. It is found in scattered areas, primarily in south Alabama. It occurs in lawns, in cemeteries, and on roadsides. Bulbs have a brown, papery outer covering and are ovoid or globose in shape. They are about the size of the end of your thumb. The leaves emerge in the autumn and remain green throughout the winter months. In early spring, the foliage dies down and the bulb remains dormant until heavy rains occur in the summer months. Leaves are linear in outline, entire, erect, and glabrous. Flowers are solitary on a hollow scape. Flower shoots emerge almost overnight. Each flower is funnel-form with 6 tepals. The tepals are orangish-yellow with a reddish brown basal area. The flowers are held erect or slightly inclined, and last for only a few days. The fruit is a three-angled capsule containing many thin, wafer-like, black, seed. The plants will continue to flower all summer after periods of drought followed by heavy rains. --A. Diamond

Rio Grande Copperlily was first reported from Alabama in 1998 by Diamond et al. (1998) but questions remain as to the nativity of this species in North America. In North America, it is found in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. It is also found in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay in South America where it is presumed to be native. However, there are a small handful of other species with this unusual bicentric distribution between North and South America. Harold Hume, a botanist and horticulturalist at the University of Florida, suggested that Spanish missionaries introduced this species to North America. Many of the known sites for this plant are around old Spanish missions or Spanish colonial cities. Walter S. Flory, professor of botany at Wake Forest University and an expert on the Amaryllis family, pointed out that the Spanish missions in Texas were founded by Catholics from Mexico. Rio Grande Copperlily is not known from Mexico or any other region of Central America or northern South America. Regardless of its origins, Rio Grande Copperlily is often associated with older settlements in Alabama.--A. Diamond & B.R. Keener