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Albuca crinifolia (The Queen Albuca) - An evergreen bulbous plant with fat exposed round bulbs topped by lush rich green 2-foot-long strapped shaped leaves. In late spring arise to unbranched 3- to 4-foot-long wands bearing erect flowers with white tepals that have broad green median stripes running the entire length with the outer tepals laying our horizontal so appearing white with the midstripe hidden below, while the inner tepals stay erect to display them - very attractive in flower.
Plant in full to part sun in a well-draining soil and irrigate occasionally to infrequently. Hardy to 25° F. Plant at least two thirds of the bulb's volume above ground. An attractive plant in a rock or mediterranean plant garden, on a slope or as a container specimen.
Albuca crinifolia comes from near Inanda a township in KwaZulu-Natal. South Africa. The name Albuca is derived from the Latin words 'albus' meaning "white" or 'albicans' meaning becoming white in reference to the color of the flowers. The specific epithet is a reference to the foliage looking similar to the large bulbous plants in the genus Crinum. Albuca are commonly known as Soldier-in-the box because the 3 fertile stamens are hidden inside the erect tepals and also Slime Lily, because of the slimy sap the plant exudes when broken or damaged. This plant was first described by Kew botanist John Gilbert Baker in his 1897 Flora Capensis. In a paper published in the February 2009 issue of Taxon titled "A molecular phylogeny and a revised classification of Ornithogaloideae (Hyacinthaceae) based on an analysis of four plastid DNA regions" by John Manning, Felix Forest Dion Devey, Michael Fay and Peter Goldblatt it was proposed to subsume Albuca and several other genera into the genus Ornithogalum, making this plant Ornithogalum crinifolium, but this has yet to be accepted and for now it remains a species of Albuca.
This plant looks like a smaller version of the robust Albuca nelsonii. We built up our crop of this unique plant after receiving a single pot of it at a meeting of the Southern California Horticultural Society in March 2014 and began selling it in 2021
This information about Albuca crinifolia displayed on this web page is based on research we have conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations we have made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how our crops have performed in containers in the nursery field. Where appropriate, we will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant.
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