Plants of the Week

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E.g., 24/11/2024

Ledebouria genus

Ledebouria cooperi
Common names: African hyacinth, ledebouria, common squill.
Family: Hyacinthaceae

The genus Ledebouria was described in 1821 by Roth, although the history of the genus dates back even further, with several authors placing it...

11 / 07 / 2011 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria glauca

Ledebouria glauca
Common names: blue African hyacinth
Family: Hyacinthaceae

A rare and relatively unknown species of African hyacinth from the hot and semi-arid regions of South Africa. This unusual species is very distinctive...

23 / 08 / 2017 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria humifusa

Ledebouria humifusa
Common names: broad-leaved African hyacinth
Family: Hyacinthaceae

The broad-leaved African hyacinth is a bulbous plant with broad usually spotted leaves, which prefers to grow in the shade of forests or wooded areas amongst...

23 / 10 / 2023 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria hypoxidioides

Ledebouria hypoxidioides
Common names: Grahamstown African hyacinth
Family: Hyacinthaceae

A highly unique species in the genus since it is the only species with leaves that are densely covered with shaggy hairs. This species is also only known...

10 / 08 / 2020 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria inquinata

Ledebouria inquinata
Common names: wild African hyacinth (Eng.); bokhoe (Sesotho.); icubudwana (isiZulu.); inqwebebane, ubuhlungu (isiXhosa.)
Family: Hyacinthaceae

A dwarf bulbous plant with tapered green leaves, which are usually attractively spotted with dark brown spots and blotches. The bulbs are covered with...

17 / 05 / 2021 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria lachenalioides

Ledebouria lachenalioides, in flower. ANDREW HANKEY
Common names: pink African hyacinth
Family: Hyacinthaceae

A rare bulbous plant from high in the Drakensberg, with broadly lanceolate, green leaves and large, pink flowers in spring....

27 / 06 / 2022 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria lepida

Ledebouria lepida
Common names: Waterberg African hyacinth
Family: Hyacinthaceae

A curious dwarf novelty Ledebouria from the Waterberg in the Limpopo Province that is rare in the wild and creates a colourful display of small purple...

09 / 05 / 2016 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria leptophylla

Ledebouria leptophylla
Common names: grass-leaved African hyacinth
Family: Hyacinthaceae

A miniature and very well-hidden species, which is easily overlooked in the field because of its small size and grass-like leaves. ...

16 / 11 / 2020 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria linioseta

Ledebouria linioseta
Common names: scented African hyacinth
Family: Hyacinthaceae

A cryptic, dwarf, bulbous plant species; the plants hiding between huge boulders in the hills around a small town above the Mpumalanga escarpment, producing...

18 / 05 / 2020 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria loedolffiae

Ledebouria loedolffiae in habitat
Common names: spotted cliff African hyacinth, spotted cliff squill (Eng.), kransbontblaar (Afr.)
Family: Hyacinthaceae

Ledebouria loedolffiae is a cluster-forming, evergreen, bulbous plant with mottled leaves in a rosette and small purplish flowers carried on an ascending...

01 / 01 / 2024 | Ernst van Jaarsveld | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Ledebouria loskopica

Ledebouria loskopica
Common names: Loskop African hyacinth (Eng.)
Family: Hyacinthaceae

With its hairy leaves and strongly scented flowers, the Loskop African hyacinth was only recently formally recognized as a new species, despite being first...

02 / 11 / 2020 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria luteola

Ledebouria luteola
Common names: highveld African hyacinth
Family: Hyacinthaceae

Unusual in cultivation, this bulbous plant, with attractively spotted leaves, can make an interesting collector’s item or curiosity. The species...

20 / 02 / 2017 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria marginata

Ledebouria marginata. Verloren Valei.
Common names: tough-leaved African hyacinth
Family: Hyacinthaceae

An attractive Ledebouria with erect, fibrous leaves and large bulb, often locally common with regional variations; it occurs over a wide area of the eastern...

23 / 01 / 2017 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria megaphylla

Ledebouria megaphylla
Common names: Sekhukune African hyacinth
Family: Hyacinthaceae

An attractive bulbous plant with broadly ovate, attractively spotted leaves and purple flowers in spring. The species has fast become popular in horticulture...

18 / 04 / 2022 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria minima

Ledebouria minima
Common names: dwarf African hyacinth
Family: Hyacinthaceae

A dwarf ledebouria, with erect to spreading, grass-like leaves and very small bulbs, usually locally abundant, where it occurs in moist soil in grassland;...

28 / 11 / 2016 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria mokobulanensis

Ledebouria mokobulanensis
Common names: Mokobulan African hyacinth
Family: Hyacinthaceae

An enigmatic, rare and range-restricted species from the high-altitude grasslands, on the crests of the Mpumalanga Drakensberg, in Mpumalanga Province,...

31 / 03 / 2017 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria ovalifolia

Ledebouria ovalifolia (Photo Klaus Wehrlin)
Common names: fynbos African hyacinth (Eng.)
Family: Hyacinthaceae

This curious dwarf species has a restricted distribution mainly in the southern, western and Northern Cape. It makes a great pot plant where it quickly...

19 / 10 / 2020 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria ovatifolia subsp. ovatifolia

Ledebouria ovatifolia, Weza Ngele
Common names: flat-leaved African hyacinth (Eng.); icubudwana (isiZulu); untanganazibomvu (isiXhosa)
Family: Hyacinthaceae

Curious and widespread, a variable, bulbous plant, with unique, broad, flat, usually spotted leaves, which are tightly appressed to the soil surface, and...

18 / 04 / 2016 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria ovatifolia subsp. scabrida

Ledebouria ovatifolia subsp. scabrida
Common names: Mdumbeni River Valley African Hyacinth
Family: Hyacinthaceae

An unusual flat-leaved Ledebouria which has leaves pressed flat on the ground and the upper surface of the leaves adorned with tongue-shaped papillae which...

28 / 01 / 2019 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Ledebouria papillata

Ledebouria papillata
Common names: Limpopo African hyacinth
Family: Hyacinthaceae

A miniature bulbous plant, which occurs mostly in Limpopo Province, South Africa. This dwarf species is often difficult to find because of its small size...

08 / 08 / 2017 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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