''Bulbine abyssinica'' is a species of

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

in the genus ''

Bulbine ''Bulbine'' is a genus of plants in the family Asphodelaceae and subfamily Asphodeloideae, named for the bulb-shaped tuber of many species. It was formerly placed in the Liliaceae. It is found chiefly in Southern Africa, with a few species extend ...

'', from eastern and

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

Description

A small geophyte, with an underground stem, and a tuft of slender leaves that appear in a rosette above the ground. The leaves are slender, succulent and cylindrical (200 mm long; 5 mm broad). The 50 cm tall inflorescence appears in early Summer, or after rains. The yellow flowers are carried at the top of it. Like all ''

'' species, the stamens are distinctively tufted ("bearded").

Distribution

This species is widespread across southern, central, and eastern Africa, where it grows in rocky soils. It ranges from

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

and

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

in the north to

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

and

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

in the west and to the

Cape Provinces The Cape Provinces of South Africa is a biogeographical area used in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD). It is part of the WGSRPD region 27 Southern Africa. The area has the code "CPP". It includes the Sou ...

of South Africa in the south. In the south, it grows as far as the town of

Worcester, South Africa Worcester ( ) is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is the third-largest city in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. It is located north-east of Cape Town on the N1 highway north to Johannesburg. Being the largest town in t ...

References

abyssinica Flora of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Flora of the Republic of the Congo Flora of East Tropical Africa Flora of South Tropical Africa Flora of Southern Africa Flora of Yemen Plants described in 1850 Taxa named by Achille Richard {{Asphodelaceae-stub