Albuca batteniana

Albuca batteniana, commonly the wild coast albuca or sometimes the wild coast tamarak, is an evergreen, bulbous perennial reaching about 60 cm in height. The bulb is positioned almost entirely above-ground, displaying fibrous scales.

The lanceolate to strap-shaped leaves ending in acutely pointed tips are channelled and curve down. They grow in a ground-level rosette from the clearly visible bulb.

The bisexual, white flowers with green keels on the tepals are erect on long pedicels in unbranched racemes. The outer three tepals spread widely, the inner three cohere around the stamens and style. Bloomtime is late winter and spring.

The species distribution is in the southeast of the Western Cape near Knysna, and eastwards coastally to Kei Mouth and Morgan's Bay in the Eastern Cape.

The habitat is sea-facing cliffs and coastal scrub. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century.

Offsets grow around mature bulbs, forming clumps. These can be removed for growing separately, best in composted, sandy soil (iNaturalist; https://pza.sanbi.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).