Albuca spiralis

The tender bulbs that produce this plant are all easy to grow and highly collectible. They can be grown on either a sunny winter windowsill, or in a cool greenhouse. Albuca come from South Africa and are another bulb plant that is currently being reclassified by many taxonomists, once placed in Hycinthaceae, it is now agreed generally to be closer to Ornithogallum. Not that we all really care, as long as everyone agrees.

All one really needs to know is that this is a very sweet bulb, which is sometimes collected by succulent enthusiasts since it too like a fast draining soil mix, and it produces incredibly bizarre spiraled leaves. I show the full plant shot of mine, since the leaves are not spiraled, so I do question the identification of this particular species. But since I received these bulbs "in-the-green" this past autumn, the foliage just may have not developed properly. The vanilla-like scent is surprisingly nice and powerfully,which leads me to ID it as A. spiralis at this time.

The plant grows in the typical pattern of many South African bulbs, dormant half the year when it want to be dry, and moist, but well drained, the other half, generally winter in the Northern Hemisphere. It cannot freeze, so one must grow it either as a house plant in a cool sunny window, or in a greenhouse. Look for Albuca on on-line cactus and succulent shops, as well as some specialty catalogs. I will be posting a list soon.