Bowiea volubilis - Climbing onion

Bowiea is one of the most unusual bulbs, attractive because of its beauty and weirdness. The common name "climbing onion" is appropriate, as the plant is a gray-green bulb, often growing exposed above ground. During the growing season it builds a soft climbing green shoot which also bears flowers. The "big thing" is realising that the climbing structure is the flowering shoot, modified by evolution, and the plant bears no leaves with blades at all. Bowiea does its photosynthesis in all green parts: the outer sheaths of the bulb and the (climbing) flowering shoot. The same adaptation is seen in the closely related genus Schizobasis (now in Drimia). Bowia volubils grows wild in diffferent African countries, from Uganda to South Africa. It is rather easy to grow in draining soil but it should be kept rather dry when resting.

The growing season is usually in the cooler months but this is not exact as it changes depending on genetics and location. Bowieas can wake up whenever temperatures stay between 12 and 27 C and water is avilable. 



Pictures from wikimedia commons:
By Amada44 - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15223988
By Amada44 - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15223971