Hyacinths are well known bulbs all over the world especially for
their heavenly scent and beautiful colours and are commonly used
as pot plants or sometimes in the garden. Many of these originate
in the Mediterranean, like the well-known Muscari. In southern
Africa we have our own selection of indigenous hyacinths, some with
quite bland flowers, but some with quite strikingly beautiful flowers.
One of the biggest genera, with the most colourful flowers is Lachenalia.
Many lachenalias are used commercially in horticulture and rival
many of the more common, well-known hyacinths on the market. L.
liliflora is one of the most beautiful and most endangered bulbs
on the planet.
are typical winter-growing bulbs that are deciduous and go completely
dormant during the hot summer months. L. liliflora consists
of a single, fleshy bulb about the size of a large marble, with
two strap-like, lanceolate leaves up to 150 mm long. They are usually,
but not always, densely covered with little bumps called pustules.
The inflorescence can grow up to a 250 mm tall and is covered with
very delicate, slightly raised, creamy-white flowers that have magenta
tips. The leaves will start to emerge a few weeks after the first
rains in autumn, but the flower comes much later in middle to late
spring, generally only appearing as the leaves are dying back.
Lachenalia is generally restricted to the winter rainfall
parts of South Africa and Namibia. L. liliflora, however,
is critically endangered and at present is only known from three
populations in the area between Durbanville and Paarl in Western
Cape. The distribution was once far more extensive, but through
farming and urbanization it has nearly been driven to extinction.
I recently visited one of the populations in Durbanville and to
my surprise found half the population destroyed by bulldozers in
order to make way for a new housing development! Ironically the
only thing protecting the existing bulbs were some rather large,
alien Eucalyptus trees between which they managed to find
Derivation of name and historical facts
Joseph Franz Jacquin, son of a Baron Joseph Jacquin, who was
studying the collections of these new plants in the Schönbrunn
Palace Gardens near Vienna in the late 1700s, decided to describe
some of the fascinating plants and gave them the name Lachenalia
after a professor of botany in Basel, Switzerland, Werner de Lachenal.
He later described L. liliflora in about 1798, liliflora
referring to the funnel-shaped flowers resembling certain species
These plants would typically grow in lowland renosterveld areas
favouring hilly slopes and flats but today much of this area has
disappeared to farming and urban sprawl. The soil consists mainly
of clay and is usually quite stony, which helps the plants to avoid
being eaten by moles. They are probably pollinated by bees during
the day and perhaps also at night by moths. They survive the hot,
dry, fire-prone summers by going dormant and only shooting with
the autumn rains.
Growing Lachenalia liliflora
L. liliflora is very easy to grow as a pot subject and can
be very rewarding. The soil medium should be fairly well drained
and consist of about half coarse, washed sand and half finely sieved
compost. Plants should be kept in a sunny position and will grow
very happily outside during the winter months providing it doesn't
drop below freezing. In order to keep the leaves green when they
come into flower, watering should be maintained until flowering
They are easily propagated by leaf cuttings, which can be removed
from the plant by slicing them at the base of the leaf blade. These
leaves are then half buried in a very sandy medium and left in a
cool place out of direct sunlight. The soil should be kept on the
dry side to avoid the leaves rotting, but the humidity should be
quite high. If these conditions of dry soil coupled with humid air
prevail, within a few months small bulbils will appear along the
cut edge at the base of the leaf. Eventually the leaf will wither,
but the bulbils can be planted like normal bulbs the following season.
Flowering will take place after one to two years.
They are also easily raised from seed, which should be sown in
autumn in a similar medium used for cultivation with a thin layer
of soil placed over the seed. The seedlings should germinate within
about two to three weeks. Flowering will take place after two to
They don't have many pests apart from snails and worms (which can
be removed by hand) and mealy bug, which should be treated with
a systemic pesticide.
Not much fertilizing is required for these bulbs as they are not
generally very hungry, but they wouldn't be adverse to the odd splash
of a diluted, low-nitrogen, liquid fertilizer.
Duncan, G. 1988. The Lachenalia handbook. National Botanical
Gardens, Kirstenbosch, Cape Town.
Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden