Albuca suaveolens

Albuca suaveolens, in Afrikaans commonly known as the bonttjienk, is a bulbous plant that grows annual leaves and an unbranched scape to 50 cm in height. The narrow leaves clasp the stem base. They become 40 cm long and 1 cm wide, but may be dry when flowering.

The species distribution is the Western Cape, the Northern Cape and the Eastern Cape as far east as Humansdorp. The plant is not a South African endemic, found also in at least Namibia.

The habitat is fairly arid and rocky sandstone flats and slopes. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

The plant used to be called Ornithogalum suaveolens (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; www.pacificbulbsociety.org; www.redlist.sanbi.org).