unknown seed to bulb in envelope

[Diane Whitehead]

I did a bit of tidying and found an unlabelled envelope
with some seeds that turned themselves into bulbs.

Does anyone have an idea what they could be?  The only places I
have collected seeds in the past year are in my garden
and in California, though someone could have given me
some seeds.

[Lesley Cox]

The only things I know that do this, are nerines and Calo...(Fermi? you know, you gave me some, an Australian native like a pink Nerine). Perhaps other Amaryllidaceae do so as well. Yours don't look like nerines.

Whatever, they look as if they're rearin' to go, so plant them carefully, the right way up obviously and with just a very light covering of compost. The little green leaves should show through within days. I'll be interested to hear later just what they turn out to be Diane.

[Paul T]

Diane,

Looks most likely to be Nerines of some description.  The bulbs are not the right shape for freshly shot Calostemma (the Aus native that Lesley was trying to think of) which are much more elongated in appearance.  They could also be some form of Haemanthus, as they are another than germinates without any outside influence.  Most of the Haemanthus I have come across have fatter bulbs (well, shorter and broader dimensions anyway) form than those in your pics, but it could just be a different species to those I am used to.  I'd be leaning towards Nerine myself.