Description:

• Bulbous herbs, 0.2-0.6 m high, resembling garlic but without its smell; bulbs producing many bulbils
• Leaves linear, soft, flat, 0.1-0.3 m long
• Flowers in umbels on long stems overtopping leaves; 2 small spathes below umbel, distinctly overlapping at base; pedicels 20-60 mm long; flowers 10-25 per umbel, opening mid-afternoon, lasting until late evening
• Perianth united only at base; lobes white to greenish white
• Ovary obovoid; with many ovules
• Stamens shorter than tepals; filaments linear-lanceolate, contiguous in lower half
• Fruit ± 7 mm long, papery
• Seeds 3 mm long, shiny, angled
• x = 5, 8, 9 (aneuploids)

Classification Notes:

• *Nothoscordum is closely related to *Allium (Onion and Garlic), but plants are without the pungent smell of these
• *Nothoscordum borbonicum Kunth does not occur naturally in the wild, but it is thought to be a natural hybrid between *N. gracile (Aiton) Stearn and *N. entrerianum Ravenna in Argentina

Nomenclature:

• *Nothoscordum Kunth
  • Kunth: 457 (1843)
  • Henderson & Anderson: 68, t. 33 (1966)
  • Ravenna: 485 (1991)

Distribution & Notes:

• Global: Species 18, mainly in America
• Southern Africa: *Nothoscordum borbonicum Kunth is an introduced troublesome weed, often spread from nurseries in gardens, parks, or along roads, often near houses
  • Parent bulbs produce many loosely attached bulblets from around the base which make it extremely difficult to control