Albuca virens

Quick Characteristics:

Albuca virens (Lindl.) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt, syn. Ornithogalum tenuifolium Lindl. is a grassland plant found in the Eastern Cape of South Africa to tropical Africa. It grows from 10 to 60 cm high and flowers November to March. Leaves vary on this species from many to few, linear to filiform. Flowers are suberect, whitish with green keels. Albuca virens ssp. arida (Oberm.) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt (formerly Ornithogalum tenuifolium ssp. aridum Oberm.) grows in stony soil in dry grassland in southern Namibia and the Northern Cape and has filiform leaves with the old bases forming a neck. Two more subspecies were named in 2009, A. virens ssp. robusta (Stedje) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt and A. virens spp. sordida (Baker) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt, although they are not listed as accepted on Plants of the World Online. The two photos below were taken by Monica Swartz and were on the Mystery Bulbs page for some time and identified as this species by Christopher Whitehouse, who wrote that it was "a very variable species across the whole of East Africa (originally divided into three subspecies but then sunk as there was no correlation between the forms and geography." This explains why the one subspecies was retained as it is located in a different area and is a different form.

Photos taken in habitat in the Eastern Cape of South Africa by Cameron McMaster, Bob Rutemoeller, and Mary Sue Ittner.

This Albuca was on the mystery bulb page but has been identified as this species. Where she lives in Coastal Northern California the leaves usually appear in February and it usually flowers in June. Photos from Mary Sue Ittner. The photo of the bulb is on a 1 cm grid.