The so-called “pregnant onion”, also known as O. caudatum, is widely grown as a houseplant and easily propagated by virtue of the prodigious bulblets that erupt from beneath the outer scales of the above-ground bulbs. These first produce grassy shoots then develop strappy mature leaves. Given sufficient light, racemes to 1 m long develop bearing flowers with white-margined green tepals. It seems appropriate to legitimize the cultivation of this fecund bulb by offering a documented collection. Divisions of HBG 63924, a plant collected by the late Michael Vassar (3938), 3 km S of Bloukrans Pass, E Cape, S. Africa. $8.
Published in the Cactus and Succulent Journal, Vol. 78 (2), March - April, 2006