I thought hippeastrum is very difficult to grow from seed

Some Hippeastrum are not self fertile but most are fertile with pollen from other Hippeastrums.

They are probably one of the easiest plants to start from seed. Good seed should be firm and is generally black! Put them about an inch underground, give them light and water and they will take off. If the seeds are old they may not want to germinate but that is true of most seeds.

Hippeastrums need lots of water during growth, I have seen them growing in the middle of shallow streams.

John

The IBS web page has pictures of several hybrids of Sprekelia and Hippeastrum. Also a hybrid of a Sprekelia with a Habranthus.

The first recorded Hippeastrum, Amaryllis x Johnsoni, was reportedly the result of pollinating Vittatum x Sprekelia formissima. A more recent hybrid of a Hipp marked like Vittatum x S. formissima looked remarkably similar to xJohnsoni.

Karl

Here is a link that might be useful: Sprekelia and hybrids

I bought a bulb sold as xHippestrelia a few years ago, it looked most like the one labeled 'Mystique' in the above link.

The plant was self-fertile, seed germinated readily with no special care. They have not bloomed yet, but have put up with a lot of neglect and abuse. Since it was self fertile I assume it was tetraploid, and I don't expect a lot of segregation of traits in the seedlings.

The mother bulb died of some weird virus-looking disease the very next year after purchase. It had indications of that as soon as it began growing after I bought it, probably came that way.

Zzzzzzzzz,

Some diploid Amaryllis are self-fertile, others aren't. I don't know about the xHippestrelia types. They may be mostly Amaryllis with segments of Sprekelia DNA in their chromosomes -- partial hybrids. Some of the hybrids are very Sprekelia-like while others show little obvious influence aside from color.

I know someone who raised seedlings from 'Mystique'. They were quite variable.

Satoshi Komoriya, creator of 'Red Monkey', suggested that Sprekelia hybrids might contribute virus resistance, so I'm sorry to hear about the virus-like disease that you plant had.

Karl

Here is a link that might be useful: Bulb 'n' Rose