Bulbine frutescens near Oudtshoorn

A flourishing Bulbine frutescens plant can become quite large over the years. And dense, providing safe havens for veld creepy-crawlies of many descriptions, unless they make it unsafe for each other inside. The white-flowering form of the plant much seen in the Little Karoo, does not seem to be common throughout the country, the yellow one more widespread and better known.

A perennial herb, the specific name, frutescens, is derived from the Latin word, frutex, meaning a shrub or bush, together with the Latin suffix, -escens, meaning the process of becoming, referring to the mature plant’s shrubby, tufted and sometimes branching habit.

Flowering is a floriferous affair, focussed above the mass of narrow, succulent leaves. Each of the numerous racemes has a few open flowers in a batch close together. Below them all are done flowering, now fruiting, and at the top the buds wait to perform later. Many satisfying pollinator visits are thus ensured over a long blooming season, if the plant remains unharmed (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Andrew, 2017; iNaturalist).