Now that is a mouthful to use as a heading isn’t it? I wondered for years what these rather attractive white flowers are called until I happened to come across a reference to them in Common Weeds in South Africa by Mayda Henderson and Johan G. Anderson. This book, published by the Department of Agricultural Technical Services in 1966, has proved to be a boon to me so often. According to the authors, Nothoscordum inodorum is a native of North America and is commonly known as Fragrant False Garlic in English and as Basterknoffel in Afrikaans. Other sources claim the plant originated in South America. It is also known as Nothoscordum borbonicum.
Another common name for the plant is Onion Weed, which I was to discover soon after our arrival in the Eastern Cape. These plants had seeded themselves all over our garden and I was taken aback when an elderly man, visiting us for the first time, exclaimed “Onion weed! What a pest!” as he began vigorously pulling them out of a narrow bed next to our front steps. Here some have taken over a flower pot.
What cannot be disputed is that this is an upright herb with a main underground bulb with many small bulbs attached to it – making these plants very difficult to remove ‘cleanly’ for some of these tiny bulbs tend to get left behind in the soil. The leaves grow from the base and are linear, long, strap-like, smooth, and are mid- to dark green and glossy.
The long cylindrical flower stalks grow from the centre of the plant.
Here is a flower about to open.
The bell-like flowers appear in a small cluster at the tip of each stalk.
As I have discovered, it is a common weed around here, seen in gardens, along footpaths, in disturbed sites, as well as growing along roadsides. During this long drought period, I am pleased to have anything growing in my garden and simply don’t have the heart to set about trying to eradicate these – at least while they are flowering!
Looks a lot like our Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) which flowers in late summer. Similarly, it self-sows readily and must be dug out as opposed to pulled, which will leave bulblets behind. I cut the spent flower heads off to prevent seeding, which helps. But as you noted, it is a good drought tolerant flower and en masse, makes a beautiful sight. And of course, the bees love them, reason enough to keep them around.
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I do cut most of the flowers before they seed and this has helped stem the tide quite well.
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What a name! But despite its spreading ways, a useful plant for cooking. And as Eliza noted, the bees love them, reason enough to keep them around.
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The bees and other insects do like the flowers 🙂
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You are more than welcome to ours 🙂
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How generous of you, Derrick. Unfortunately my garden is already oversubscribed 🙂
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🙂
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You do have an eye for the striking ones, be they weed or the ‘real’ flowers.
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I enjoy pretty flowers.
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They are beautiful, weeds or not!
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Sometimes ‘weeds’ need a closer look – after all, a weed is a plant growing where you don’t want it to be!
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I totally agree!
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Pragtige blomme, ek verwonder my aan die tekstuur.
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Dit was eers toe ek ‘n foto van naby met my foon geneem het dat ek agtergekom het hoe baie mooi hierdie ‘onkruid’ blomme eintlik is 🙂
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Besonders, ek sal sommer plant …
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I bet it is those beautiful flowers that got them their ticket to our country?
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Any agricultural imports are bound to contain seeds from the country of origin. How this one entered the country sans passport I’m not sure 🙂
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We also have them everywhere. Our policy is, if it grows and blossoms, it’s good!!
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That echoes my philosophy to a T 🙂
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love the top shot!
✨🙏🕉☀🌙⚖🪔🕊♾🈚☯🌍🐲🙋♂️
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Thank you: these were all taken with my cell phone camera 🙂
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Some of the prettiest flowers are invasive and pollinators appreciate them too.
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A variety of pollinators seem to be particularly fond of these flowers!
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A very good looking weed.
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I think so too – giving them a stay of execution for now 🙂
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