Albuca viscosa lush leaves

The leaves of Albuca viscosa in picture are numerous and erect; their lower parts straight, the upper parts spiralling. Although nearly cylindrical, they are channelled upon their upper surfaces.

Sand adhering to the sticky surfaces is visible, due to the presence of many sessile glandular cells upon the leaves. Leaf colour is mostly dark green, but pale near the leaf bases. The leaves also manage some subdued shine.

This leaf-shape, straight and erect before coiling in the upper part, is usually associated with A. spiralis, but these leaves are clearly sticky with sand adhering to them. In the absence of flowers the plant is therefore taken to be A. viscosa although some uncertainty must remain. Whether these to species hybridise is unknown.

The tops of the tunics of A. viscosa bulbs do not split into fibres as happens in some Albuca species (also not in A. spiralis).

The photo was taken in August near Oudtshoorn (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; iSpot; JSTOR).