Lachenalia bulbifera
(Cirillo) Engl. Red LachenaliaBulb subglobose, 10–35 mm diam., offset-forming. Leaves 1 or 2, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 60–200 mm long, 15–90 mm wide, spreading to suberect, fleshy, slightly to deeply canaliculate, glabrous, bright to dark green, the upper surface sometimes reddish-spotted. Scape erect to suberect, 10-25 cm high, fleshy, green reddish, plain or with purplish-brown spots, few to many-flowered; pedicels 4–7 mm long. Perianth zygomorphic, tubular, mostly pendulous; outer tepals oblong, almost as long as the inner tepals, 13–32 mm long, 4–7 mm wide, light to dark red; inner tepals oblong, 23–40 mm long, 8–11 mm wide, overlapping, red, the upper margins with broad dark purple to purplish-magenta zones, apices purplish or green, apical gibbosities prominent, light to bright green, magenta or purple, median keels light magenta. Stamens included. Style included, ultimately exserted. Flowers in June to July (in Victoria).
Also naturalised in WA, SA. Endemic to the western and southern coastal parts of the Western Cape in South Africa (Duncan 2012).
A garden escape. In Victoria, known from recent (2023) collections from the coastal south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne (Aspendale, Edithvale), where adventive in degraded vegetation in the foreshore reserve, on sandy soil.
Lachenalia bulbifera is very variable in scape length, tepal colour and length, capsule size, and flowering time (Duncan 2012). The known populations in Victoria all have red flowers.