Tulbaghia

Society garlic
Tulbaghia violacea
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Amaryllidaceae
Subfamily: Allioideae
Tribe: Tulbaghieae
Genus: Tulbaghia
L. 1771, conserved name not Heister 1755
Synonyms[1]
  • Omentaria Salisb. (1866)
  • Prototulbaghia Vosa (2007)
Tulbaghia simmleri

Tulbaghia (wild garlic[2] or society garlic) is a genus of monocotyledonous herbaceous perennial bulbs native to Africa,[3] belonging to the amaryllis family. It is one of only two known genera in the society garlic tribe within the onion subfamily.[4] The genus was named for Ryk Tulbagh (1699–1771), one time governor of The Cape of Good Hope.[5]

Most species are native to the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. As is common to many members of the Allioideae, when their leaves are bruised they produce a distinct garlic smell, hence its common name. The flowers are borne in an umbel. Each flower has six narrow tepals. A characteristic of the genus is that there is a "corona" – a raised crown-like structure – at the centre of the flower. This may be small and scale-like or may be larger, somewhat like the trumpet of a small narcissus.[6]

Species[3][7]
  1. Tulbaghia acutiloba Harv. – Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, South Africa
  2. Tulbaghia aequinoctialis Welw. ex Baker – Angola
  3. Tulbaghia alliacea L.f., syn. Tulbaghia affinis – Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa
  4. Tulbaghia calcarea Engl. & Krause – Namibia
  5. Tulbaghia cameronii Baker – Cameroon, Zaire, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia
  6. Tulbaghia capensis L. – Cape Province
  7. Tulbaghia cernua Fisch. – Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa
  8. Tulbaghia coddii Vosa & R.B.Burb. – Mpumalanga
  9. Tulbaghia cominsii Vosa – Cape Province
  10. Tulbaghia dregeana Kunth – Cape Province
  11. Tulbaghia friesii Suess. – Nyanga Mountains of Mozambique + Zimbabwe
  12. Tulbaghia galpinii Schltr. – Cape Province
  13. Tulbaghia leucantha Baker – Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia
  14. Tulbaghia ludwigiana Harv. – Eswatini, South Africa
  15. Tulbaghia luebbertiana Engl. & Krause – Namibia
  16. Tulbaghia macrocarpa Vosa – Zimbabwe
  17. Tulbaghia montana Vosa – Cape Province
  18. Tulbaghia natalensis Baker – Cape Province, KwaZulu-Natal
  19. Tulbaghia nutans Vosa – Mpumalanga
  20. Tulbaghia pretoriensis Vosa & Condy – Gauteng
  21. Tulbaghia rhodesica R.E.Fr. – Tanzania, Zambia
  22. Tulbaghia simmleri Beauverd – Northern Province
  23. Tulbaghia tenuior K.Krause & Dinter – Cape Province, Namibia
  24. Tulbaghia transvaalensis Vosa – Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal
  25. Tulbaghia verdoornia Vosa & R.B.Burb. – Cape Province
  26. Tulbaghia violacea Harv. – Society garlic[8] – Cape Province, KwaZulu-Natal; naturalized in Tanzania + Mexico
formerly included[3]

A few names have been coined using the name Tulbaghia, but applied to species now considered better suited to the genus Agapanthus.

  1. ^ Tulbaghia L. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
  2. ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "​Tulbaghia​". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  3. ^ a b c World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, retrieved 2011-11-13, search for "Tulbaghia"
  4. ^ Stevens, P.F., Angiosperm Phylogeny Website: Asparagales: Allioideae
  5. ^ Gledhill, D. (1994), The Names of Plants, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-36675-5, p. 189
  6. ^ Armitage, James (August 2007), "Time for Tulbaghia", The Garden, 136 (8): 524–527
  7. ^ South African National Biodiversity Institute, Red List of South African Plants, search for Tulbaghia
  8. ^ Tulbaghia violacea on Floridata