Species
+

Tulbaghia violacea Harv.

Society Garlic, Violet Garlic, konofolo, moeye-ya-naga

Climate known 55 photographs Bulb, tuber or caudex
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Tulbaghia violacea, commonly known as society garlic, pink agapanthus, wild garlic, sweet garlic, spring bulbs, or spring flowers, is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae. It is indigenous to southern Africa, and reportedly naturalized in Tanzania and Mexico.

Text from Wikipedia, “Tulbaghia violacea”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Tulbaghia

Tulbaghia is a genus of monocotyledonous herbaceous perennial bulbs native to Africa, belonging to the amaryllis family. It is the sole genus in the tribe Tulbaghieae, which in the onion subfamily. The genus was named for Ryk Tulbagh (1699–1771), one time governor of The Cape of Good Hope.

Text from Wikipedia, “Tulbaghia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Amaryllidaceae
Described by
Harv.
Native to
Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal
Wild records
442 in range· 105 open

At a glance

Warmest month
26°C
Feb, mean day; nights 17 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
646mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Oct 73 mm (CHELSA)
Light
18–46DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by Amaryllidaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (February and April to October in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 646 mm a year, wettest October at 73 mm, driest June at 32 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 46 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 7.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Omentaria violacea (Harv.) Kuntze; Tulbaghia violacea var. violacea.

Cultivation

Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by Amaryllidaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (February and April to October in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (495 mm of 646 mm) takes 8 months, October to April and August. Mean temperature moves 8.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: February and April to October.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 646 mm a year, wettest October at 73 mm, driest June at 32 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

646 mm a year at the habitat, 495 mm of it October to April and August. Wettest month October at 73 mm, driest June at 32 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 466 mm to 1017 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 46 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 46 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 16, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 7.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 7.7 °C, the absolute minimum 5.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 8.8 °C in July (across the envelope cells 2.9 °C to 13.6 °C), warmest day 25.5 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 7.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 62% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 18 °C in Jun to 26 °C in Feb; mean night from 9 °C in Jul to 17 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 646 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 259 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 5.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 31.6 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°31.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)5.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 18–46RH 55–62 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 259 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C25 / 23–2926 / 23–2925 / 22–2723 / 20–2520 / 18–2318 / 16–2118 / 15–2119 / 16–2221 / 17–2422 / 19–2623 / 20–2724 / 22–28
Night °C17 / 14–2117 / 15–2116 / 13–2014 / 10–1812 / 7–1610 / 4–149 / 3–1410 / 5–1411 / 8–1513 / 10–1614 / 12–1816 / 13–20
Rain mm61 / 28–13253 / 26–11768 / 35–9855 / 36–8338 / 14–11132 / 9–14435 / 3–15348 / 7–11746 / 18–8873 / 43–10773 / 37–11864 / 33–127
DLI45 / 38–5240 / 35–4634 / 31–3827 / 25–3121 / 19–2818 / 16–2519 / 17–2724 / 22–3231 / 29–3838 / 32–4243 / 36–4946 / 38–52
RH %62 / 56–6562 / 56–6562 / 56–6561 / 54–6457 / 51–6155 / 50–6055 / 49–6057 / 47–6160 / 47–6261 / 52–6361 / 54–6461 / 56–64

Each figure is the median across the 259 grid cells holding the 434 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2478:4095 (-33.925, 24.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 5.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 7.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 259 distinct grid cells holding the 434 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2478:4095 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -34.00_25.000, lapse-corrected +123 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 291 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal· introduced: Italy, Tunisia, Tanzania, Mexico Central
Kew's description“bulbous geophyte” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-33.875, 25.375 · in the densest population, 337 records (76% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 442 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 105 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 88 km away. 555 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 8 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 442 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Tulbaghia violaceaTulbaghia violaceaTulbaghia violaceaTulbaghia violaceaTulbaghia violaceaTulbaghia violaceaTulbaghia violaceaTulbaghia violacea

Photographs: (c) Nerea Gutiérrez Gordillo, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Noeleen du Toit, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); (c) Andrew Gillespie, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) douglaseustonbrown, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Tulbaghia violacea, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Seasonal variation in antimicrobial and phytochemical properties of frequently used medicinal bulbous plants from South Africa
Bhekumthetho Ncube, J.F. Finnie, J. Van Staden (2010) · South African Journal of Botany
A comparative study of the antimicrobial and phytochemical properties between outdoor grown and micropropagated Tulbaghia violacea Harv. plants
Bhekumthetho Ncube, V.N.P. Ngunge, J.F. Finnie, J. Van Staden (2011) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Identification of monocot flora using pollen features through scanning electron microscopy
Saraj Bahadur, Mushtaq Ahmad, Sehrosh Mir, Muhammad Zafar (2018) · Microscopy Research and Technique
Antioxidant, antidiabetic and hypolipidemic effects of Tulbaghia violacea Harv. (wild garlic) rhizome methanolic extract in a diabetic rat model
Kogi Moodley, Kimane Joseph, Yougasphree Naidoo, Shahidul Islam (2015) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Preliminary Phytochemical Screening of Crude Extracts from the Leaves, Stems, and Roots of Tulbaghia violacea
Lerato N. Madike, Samkeliso Takaidza, Michael Pillay (2017) · International Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemical Research
The amino acid precursors and odor formation in society garlic (Tulbaghia violacea Harv.)
Roman Kubec, Jan Velı́šek, Rabi A. Musah (2002) · Phytochemistry
Acute and sub-chronic toxicity studies of methanolic extract of Tulbaghia violacea rhizomes in Wistar rats
OS Olorunnisola, Graeme Bradley, AJ Afolayan (2012) · AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY
Anticancer properties of Tulbaghia violacea regulate the expression of p53-dependent mechanisms in cancer cell lines
Lesetja R. Motadi, Mpho Choene, Nonkululeko N. Mthembu (2020) · Scientific Reports
Micromonospora tulbaghiae sp. nov., isolated from the leaves of wild garlic, Tulbaghia violacea
Bronwyn M. Kirby, Paul R. Meyers (2009) · INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC AND EVOLUTIONARY MICROBIOLOGY
ANTIDIABETIC AND CYTOTOXICITY SCREENING OF FIVE MEDICINAL PLANTS USED BY TRADITIONAL AFRICAN HEALTH PRACTITIONERS IN THE NELSON MANDELA METROPOLE, SOUTH AFRICA
Maryna van de Venter, Mea van Huyssteen, P J Milne, Eileen E. Campbell (2011) · African Journal of Traditional Complementary and Alternative Medicines
Angiotensin I-Converting Enzyme Inhibitor Activity of Nutritive Plants in KwaZulu-Natal
S. Ramesar, Himansu Baijnath, Thirumala Govender, Irene Mackraj (2008) · Journal of Medicinal Food

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 54 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.