The bases of the tepals are fused to form a cylinder-shaped tube, long; the free ends of the tepals are long, narrow and spreading. The fruit is a berry, across. Differences between the three accepted subspecies have been summarized by Friis and Nordal, and are shown in the table below. It can be seen that although the dimensions mostly overlap, the length of the flower tube relative to the free segments at the end of the flower distinguishes "S. m." subsp. "longitubus", in which they are more-or-less the same length, from "S. m." subsp. "multiflorus", in which the tube is generally shorter than the free segments. "S. m." subsp. "katherinae" is intermediate. "S. m." subsp. "multiflorus" tends to have narrower free segments than the other two subspecies. "S. m." subsp. "katherinae" is tall, "S. m." subsp. "longitubus" short, with "S. m." subsp. "multiflorus" generally intermediate, although varying in height throughout its considerable range. "Scadoxus multiflorus" was originally described by English botanist Thomas Martyn in 1795 as "Haemanthus multiflorus". Constantine Samuel Rafinesque moved "Haemanthus multiflorus" to his new genus "Scadoxus" in 1838, giving it its current binomial name "Scadoxus multiflorus". The separation of "Scadoxus" from "Haemanthus" was ignored by most workers until 1976, when the two genera were again segregated by Ib Friis and Inger Nordal. "Haemanthus" species are southern in distribution, form true bulbs and have 2"n" = 16 chromosomes, whereas "Scadoxus" species, such as "S. multiflorus", are found throughout tropical Africa, do not all form bulbs and have 2"n" = 18 chromosomes. The leaves are a further distinguishing characteristic: those of "Scadoxus" are thinner and have a distinct stalk (petiole); those of "Haemanthus" are thicker and without a petiole. Three subspecies are known:  The species is native to tropical and southern Africa and parts of the Arabian Peninsula.