Albuca setosa

Albuca setosa, the fibrous slime lily or soldier-in-the-box and in Afrikaans the diktamarak (thick tamarak), grows from a large bulb covered in a thick tunic of layered fibres that form a neck around the stem. The plants become from 30 cm to 40 cm tall. The specific name, setosa, is derived from the Latin word setosus meaning bristly, referring to the bristles on the neck of the bulb's tunic.

This is deciduous plant or often so, the several narrowly linear leaves broaden at the base without clasping the stem. The leaves are sometimes channelled and slightly fleshy until the dry season or adverse conditions make them wither. The leaf margins have a glassy appearance and are sometimes faintly hairy.

The species distribution is widespread in South Africa.  It occurs in all nine provinces, but absent from the west of the Western Cape and underrepresented in parts of the Northern Cape. It is also found widespread in southern and tropical Africa.

The diverse habitat is rocky places in grassland, grassy fynbos and scrub to elevations around 2400 m. Harsh, dry summer (or winter) seasons are often experienced where the plants grow, the overall rainfall often low. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Euston-Brown and Kruger, 2023; Manning, 2009; Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist; www.pacificbulbsociety.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).