Tulbaghia
Genus of flowering plants
Tulbaghia simmleri
Tulbaghia (wild garlic or society garlic ) is a genus of monocotyledonous herbaceous perennial bulbs native to Africa, belonging to the amaryllis family . It is the sole genus in the tribe Tulbaghieae , which in the onion subfamily .
The genus was named for Ryk Tulbagh (1699–1771), one time governor of The Cape of Good Hope.
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 .
Species
28 species are accepted.
Tulbaghia acutiloba Harv. – Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, South Africa
Tulbaghia aequinoctialis Welw. ex Baker – Angola
Tulbaghia alliacea L.f. , syn. Tulbaghia affinis – Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa
Tulbaghia calcarea Engl. & Krause – Namibia
Tulbaghia cameronii Baker – Cameroon, Zaire, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia
Tulbaghia capensis L. – Cape Province
Tulbaghia cernua Fisch., C.A.Mey. & Avé-Lall. – Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa
Tulbaghia coddii Vosa & R.B.Burb. – Mpumalanga
Tulbaghia cominsii Vosa – Cape Province
Tulbaghia dregeana Kunth – Cape Province
Tulbaghia friesii Suess. – Nyanga Mountains of Mozambique + Zimbabwe
Tulbaghia galpinii Schltr. – Cape Province
Tulbaghia leucantha Baker – Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia
Tulbaghia ludwigiana Harv. – Eswatini, South Africa
Tulbaghia luebbertiana Engl. & Krause – Namibia
Tulbaghia macrocarpa Vosa – Zimbabwe
Tulbaghia maritima Vosa – Cape Province
Tulbaghia montana Vosa – Cape Province
Tulbaghia natalensis Baker – Cape Province, KwaZulu-Natal
Tulbaghia nutans Vosa – Mpumalanga
Tulbaghia pretoriensis Vosa & Condy – Gauteng
Tulbaghia rhodesica R.E.Fr. – Tanzania, Zambia
Tulbaghia simmleri Beauverd – Northern Province
Tulbaghia tenuior K.Krause & Dinter – Cape Province, Namibia
Tulbaghia transvaalensis Vosa – Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal
Tulbaghia verdoornia Vosa & R.B.Burb. – Cape Province
Tulbaghia violacea Harv. – Society garlic – Cape Province, KwaZulu-Natal; naturalized in Tanzania + Mexico
formerly included
A few names have been coined using the name Tulbaghia , but applied to species now considered better suited to the genus Agapanthus .
References
1 2 "Tulbaghia L." Plants of the World Online . Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 30 May 2026 .
↑ NRCS . "Tulbaghia " . PLANTS Database . United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 12 December 2015 .
1 2 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families , The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew , retrieved 2011-11-13 , search for "Tulbaghia"
↑ Stevens, P.F., Angiosperm Phylogeny Website: Asparagales: Allioideae
↑ Gledhill, D. (1994), The Names of Plants , Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-36675-5 , p. 189
↑ Armitage, James (August 2007), "Time for Tulbaghia ", The Garden , 136 (8): 524– 527
↑ South African National Biodiversity Institute, Red List of South African Plants, search for Tulbaghia
↑ Tulbaghia violacea on Floridata
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