This Mediterranean bulb can achieve massive proportions, as large as a volleyball and weighing more than 10 pounds. It is a winter-grower with a rosette of glaucous, sword-shaped leaves to 2' long. The bulb, clothed in a papery, reddish tunic, mounds up above the ground with age or can be grown above-ground in a pot. In summer the plant is dormant, the foliage dried and mostly gone, yet the plant reasserts itself in dramatic fashion by producing a flower stalk to 2 m tall, the upper third or more being a dense raceme packed with white flowers. HBG 97479, plants grown from seed of horticultural origin. $5.
Published in the Cactus and Succulent Journal, Vol. 80 (2), March - April, 2008