Botanical name

Tulbaghia alliacea

Family

Alliaceae

Common Name

Wild Garlic, Wilde Knoflok
Tulbaghia alliacea
Tulbaghia alliacea
Tulbaghia alliacea
Tulbaghia alliacea
Tulbaghia alliacea
Tulbaghia alliacea

Description

Bulbous geophyte up to 30cm, strongly aromatic. Leaves absent or emergent at flowering, spreading, linear; flowers 6-10 on pedicels up to 20mm long, brownish to green with an orange corona (fleshy or petal-like appendages attached to the perianth); upper anthers inserted on to the corona; scented of coconut and honey at night.

After: Ryk Tulbagh (1699-1771), Governor of the Cape Colony, with whom Linnaeus corresponded.

Latin: allium = garlic: referring to the resemblance of this species to an onion plant.

Habitat

Clay or gravelly flats, sandy places

Flower Date

March to May - mostly after fire