Albuca spiralis

Albuca spiralis, Corkscrew Albuca is a perennial geophyte from South Africa where it is found in Western Cape and Northern Cape Provinces. It is dormant in the summer after flowering has finished and growth commences again in the autumn and throughout the winter. It has characteristically coiled foliage that grows in a spiral corkscrew and it is thought that this curled spiralling habit is a morphological adaptation to create maximum leaf surface exposure to capture fog and dew formed from the intersection of humid maritime air meeting cooler air. These twisting shapes together with the presence of glandular hairs harvest the airborne moisture and then channel it down to the roots in an otherwise arid terrain. Albuca concordiana is another Albuca with twisting corkscrew foliage and several other genera from the same geographical region exhibit this spiralling habit including Gethyllis britteniana, Gethyllis spiralis, Gethyllis villosa, Gethyllis verticiliata, Ornithigalum undulatum, Dipcadi rigidifolium and Dipcadi crispum.

The flowers have a nodding or sideways habit and are greenish-yellow with the three outer tepals opening fully and the three inner tepals remaining closed. A distinctive green medial stripe runs down the outside of the inner tepals. Albuca spiralis is frost tender in the UK and needs to be grown as a houseplant although it can be placed outside in the late spring once the danger of frost has passed. It needs excellent drainage and a gritty sandy soil.

There is also a tissue culture cultivar with the unfortunate and somewhat ludicrous name 'Frizzle Sizzle' that does the rounds.