Ledebouria monophylla is found mostly on the Mpumalanga escarpment around Graskop and further westwards towards Mount Sheba. It is one of the few species that requires a thorough burning of its mountain grassland and fynbos habitat before large populations of bulbs are stimulated into mass flowering. Such occurrences sometimes only occur once every 3-5 years and during such periods the bulbs remain semi-dormant. After fire there is a mass flowering simultaneous with the advent of the main summer rains.

L. monophylla has one very characteristic rounded leaf, occasionally two.
Two of the most attractive and unusual Ledebourias are Ledebouria hypoxidoides and Ledebouria viscosa.


Resnova megaphylla displays a great deal of variability in its beautifully spotted leaves.


Ledebouria hypoxidoides in flower in habitat near Grahamstown, Eastern Cape.


The habitat of Ledebourias lepida on the summit of the Waterberg near Vaalwater in the Limpopo Province. The plants grow in sandy soil at the edges of sheets of exposed rock. This niche habitat becomes saturated during the main summer rains from late November until late February in years of average or above average rainfall. These conditions are ideal for the growing flowering and seeding of Ledebourias lepida.

L. hypoxidoides is narrowly confined to the hills around Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. It has a crown of foliage resembling the broader leaved Hypoxis species. The leaves are most attractive with a dense velvety pubescence. The pubescence imparts a silvery sheen when the plants are grown in strong direct sunlight. This plant, though rare in nature, is readily propagated from seeds.

Ledebouria viscosa is an extraordinary plant with one, occasionally 2-3 erect broad leaves. These have a viscous secretion to which sand particles adhere often giving the leaf a brownish appearance. This is another rare species found on the sandy plains to the north west of the western end of the Waterberg in the Limpopo Province. The habitat continues for many kilometres to the north but the plants appear to be restricted only to one small area of deep pinkish sand.

Perhaps one of the most elegant of all the larger Ledebourias is Ledebouria agavoides (in ed.) This species has been found at one spot south of the southern end of the Leolo Mountains in Sekhukhuneland, a region rich in endemics. The plants have partly exposed bulbs, broad grey leaves like the larger agave species and a particularly attractive large spike covered with white flowers, borne in the early summer.

One of the most beautiful of all South African bulbs is Resnova megaphylla. The broad leaves are extremely handsomely spotted and blotched with inky blackish mauve and rich chestnut. Many leaves have underlying secondary spotting of pale slate and ashy grey. The species is found growing quite abundantly in a restricted area of hills just within the eastern boundary of the Sekhukhuneland centre of floristic endemism.

All Ledebourias and Resnova megaphylla are readily propagated from seed. An ideal sowing mixture comprises a third sandy soil, a third silt and a third riversand with a small amount of Cultera
Germination Mix mixed in. (The equivalent to this germination mix is likely to be available all over the world.) The seeds should be lightly scattered across the surface of the soil and just covered with the sowing medium.

The young bulbs develop quickly after germination. Wherever possible large deep seed trays or deep pots should be used for the germination process.

The young bulbs should be left in the propagation trays for the first two seasons and then transplanted into containers or else garden situations where they are to be permanently cultivated. The dwarf species of Ledebourias usually flower in the second or third season when grown from seed, whereas the majority of the larger bulbed species take 3 – 5 years to reach flowering size.

Penrock Seeds and Penrock Plants specialises in Ledebourias and specially selected clones of Resnova megaphylla. These may be purchased either as seeds or bulbs.