Hello. I have looked in all my plant books for this one and cannot find anything remotely like it. I got this from a pot that was overrun by clumps of it, while looking at a house to buy. The house was not occupied and there was a small, unkept, greenhouse attached with many neglected plants, as no one had been living there. Anyway, I saw this pot of plants & bent down to take a closer look. As I touched one of the plants, it nearly popped out of the ground, so I took it home & potted it. But I have NO idea what it is. It is bulbus, and seems to reproduce by growing more bulbs. The bulbs are not large, about the same size of the leaf-trunk. They do not have an outer papery covering...very much like a common wild garlic you dig out of your lawn. The leaves are slender and feel like those of common wandering jew (delicate & a little "juicy"). The leaves look like some kind of lily-type in shape. They are maroon-purple underneath and green-sploched & slightly silvery on the tops. The oddest thing is the flower. It is similar to the stamen of aurums, but VERY small. There is no "hood", rather the flower stem grows out from the center of a leaf base. If someone could tell me what this is, I'd appreciate it. I don't know how to care for it yet.
WOW! Thanks for the help on this! Once I had a genus, I went right to work & found it is Ledebouria Socialis. I must have caught it after the flower petals dropped away, because it just had the spathe-like structure. Or perhaps what I have is a different species very closely related, as all examples I found on the internet seemed much larger than the mature plants here. Definitely Ledebouria, though! Thanks again! Vince
Here is a link to a webpage that will probably help explain that it is formerly scilla violacea, now reclassified to ledebouria socialis http://www.washjeff.edu/greenhouse/Lsocialis/
