Brunsvigia radulosa umbel base

Flowering while still leafless here, Brunsvigia radulosa, a summer growing plant, may have its four to six broadly elliptic leaves lying flat on the ground already by the time it blooms.

The leaf texture is leathery, the rough surface dark green and the margins straight. The specific name, radulosa, refers to the rough-textured leaf surfaces. Leaf dimensions are 25 cm to 50 cm by 10 cm to 20 cm.

The perennial, solitary bulb from which all the above-ground plant components grow annually is ovoid, from 6,5 cm to 20 cm in diameter, covered in a hard, dark brown tunic. There is a subterranean neck of up to 10 cm long at the top of the bulb and a cluster of thick fleshy roots spreading into the ground from its base (Duncan, et al, 2016; Manning, 2009; Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist).