Tulbaghia fragrance -- is it, or isn't it??
DaveKarn@aol.com (Thu, 20 Jan 2005 08:52:01 PST)

Hello all ~

Recent mention of tulbaghia on the listserv has prompted me to ask about the
following.

I bought some Tulbaghia simmleri (fragrans) several years ago and have them
planted in a pot and growing outdoors with very little care here in Northern
California. I babied them indoors the first season but didn't get back home
until late January the following year so they survived outdoors through some
frosty weather that damaged the foliage and stems of flowers then in bloom. With
warmer weather, the plants renewed the foliage for the following season.

The plants have bloomed every winter since receipt (and are currently in
bloom with several stems of flowers) but, for the life of me, I cannot detect any
fragrance (in the coolness of winter or in the warmth indoors). Now, I know
my olfactory apparatus still works because I seem able to detect what others
appear not to. Thus, the question becomes one of why can't I (or my wife, for
that matter) detect any fragrance?? Assuming physiology is not at fault here,
are some of these plants just not fragrant? That is, as a species, is that
trait not universal? I originally bought the plants (from Monocot in England)
because I had read they were "intensely" fragrant and can only assume they were
divisions from obviously fragrant stock. Thus, I am puzzled why these plants
do not exhibit the fragrance that originally generated the epithet
"fragrans."

Dave Karnstedt
Windsor, California, USA