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Albuca humilis
Albuca humilis is a small bulbous geophyte from southern Africa, grown for its fragrant white flowers on a short stem. Grow it from its bulb in a sunny, well-drained spot and let it go dormant in winter.
Albuca humilis is a bulbous flowering plant, placed in the genus Albuca in the subfamily Scilloideae of the family Asparagaceae. It is native to southern Africa – to South Africa from the Free State to KwaZulu-Natal according to some sources, or to the Drakensberg Mountains of Lesotho according to others.
Albuca humilis was first described by John Gilbert Baker in 1895. The specific epithet humilis means "low-growing". It grows from small white bulbs, each producing only one or two narrow leaves in the summer, dying down in the winter. The flower stem is up to 10 cm (4 in) tall, with one to three upward-facing flowers with six tepals up to 2 cm (0.8 in) long. All the tepals are white with a green stripe on the outside; the inner three also have yellow tips. The flowers are strongly scented and have been described as smelling of marzipan.
Albuca abyssinica · Albuca acuminata · Sea Onion · Dainty Soldier In A Box · Albuca fastigiata · Albuca foetida · Albuca hallii · Albuca juncifolia · Longstalk Tamarak · Thick Slime Lily · Albuca shawii · Curly Tamarak
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Albuca humilis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
