Wincy, you have touched on a very interesting topic here. Genus "Hippeastrum" WAS actually classified under family Liliaceae (百合科). In South America, those white trumpeted Hippeastrum species are often commonly known as "azucena" which is a Spanish word representing "lily". Hippeastrum flowers do resemble that of Lilium in many aspects.
Family Amaryllidaceae (石蒜科) is separated from family Liliaceae mainly on account of the ovary (子房) which is relatively inferior to that of family "Liliaceae". Nevertheless, this separation is not fully recognised by certain schools of taxonomists. Otherwise, 八王爺 has already provided a good account of the features of genera Hippeastrum and Lilium. |