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Eriospermum abyssinicum

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Author:  John Gilbert Baker, 1876
Family:  ERIOSPERMACEAE*
Origin:  Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe
Soil:  Grit
Water:  Minimum
Sun:  Medium
Thickness:  6 Centimetres
Height:  12 Centimetres
Flower:  Yellow
Propagate:  Seeds
Names:  -
Synonyms:  Anthericum flagelliforme, Baker.
Eriospermum burchellii,
Baker.
Eriospermum elatum,
Baker.
Eriospermum flagelliforme,
J.C.Manning.
Eriospermum fleckii,
Schinz.
Eriospermum longipetiolatum,
Dammer.
Eriospermum luteorubrum,
Baker.
Eriospermum schinzii,
Engl. & K.Krause.
Eriospermum seineri,
Engl. & K.Krause.
Eriospermum togoense,
Dammer.
Schizobasis flagelliformis,
Baker.
Bulbine unifolia,
Schult.f. ex Baker.

This member of the Eriospermaceae* family was described by John Gilbert Baker in 1876. It is found in central, south and eastern Africa. The flowers are yellow. The caudex can grow to six centimetres in diameter, the single/few leaves up to twelve centimetres. The flowers are yellow.

I really don't know much about this plant. The Royal Botanical Garden of Kiev: "The family comprises a single genus, with 102 species according to the recent revision, found only in Africa south of the Sahara, with a concentration in the western Cape Province of South Africa. It is easily recognised in fruit by the densely hairy seeds, and also by the bristly neck of old leaf-sheaths and leaves with a petiole-like base. It has little economic, medicinal or horticultural value but is botanically interesting for being a very isolated and advanced family".

The genera name from Greek; erion; 'woll' and Greek sperma; 'seed'. The species name means 'from Abyssinica', present day Ethiopia.

*)Accordantly to the latest taxonomic system; APG IV 2016, Eriospermaceae is now part of the Asparagaceae.

This is a winter grower.