Amancae (Hymenocallis amancaes)
Encyclopedia
The Flower of Amancae is endemic herbaceous plant
Herbaceous plant
A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

 species of the coastal hills of Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 and belongs to the family of the Amaryllidaceae
Amaryllidaceae
Amaryllidoideae is the subfamily of flowering plants that takes its name from the genus Amaryllis. It is part of the family Amaryllidaceae, in order Asparagales...

.

This plant is an herbaceous one, with white bulbs, radical leaf of intense green color, yellow terminal flowers with a greenish interior and a short time of life that lasts from 2 to 3 days.

It has green seeds that germinate in the plant and later they fall with the root to the ground. It is cultivated wild and has cosmetic and medicinal uses.

Its beauty has inspired many artists and intellectuals. From PreHispanic times, the Inca’s Culture decorated Keros
Keros
Keros is an uninhabited Greek island in the Cyclades about southeast of Naxos. Administratively it is part of the community of Koufonisi. It has an area of and its highest point is...

 and other ceramics with this flower.

The Flower of Amance was painted in watercolors by Martinez de Compagnon, Bishop of Trujillo.

In century XVII Bernabé Cobo
Bernabé Cobo
Bernabé Cobo was a Spanish Jesuit missionary and writer. He played a part in the early history of quinine by his description of cinchona bark; he brought some to Europe on a visit in 1632....

said: “In the time of drizzles is born in hills of the contour of Lima City, in so much quantity that they put of that they put of its color the meadows where they are born ".

During the Colony in Pampas of Amancaes, located in the place which today is called Rimac District, the slopes of the place were covered with Amancaes of diverse colors: white, yellow and purple.

St. Juan Baptist’s Day is celebrated on June 24 and at same time, it is initiated the flowering of the Amancae.

This coincidence motivated the archaeologist and naturalist Johann Jakob Von Tschudi to say the following thing: “People of all the colors and classes, play, drink, gather flowers and return to Lima at the time of pray".

The term of the flowering of the Amancae is given generally 4 days later, that is to say, the 30th September when St Jeronimo’s Day is celebrated.

The Flower of Amancae is also well-known as Amancay, Amankay, Hamancaes, Janacai, Lamanckai, etc.
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