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]

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

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.

References

edit
  1. ^ Tulbaghia L. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
  2. ^ NRCS. "Tulbaghia". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). 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