slime lily

plural slime lilies

1. Any plant of the genus Albuca, mainly occurring in Africa.

   Distinguished from other slimelilies by the conspicuous warts at the base of the stem.

   2008, John C. Manning, Namaqualand

   2 more examples

   Bulbous plants are not particularly common along the coast, but the bright scarlet-flowered Rat's-Tail Babiana (Babiana ringens) is always seen in this sandy bush country which also abounds with blue- and white-flowered Hottentot Nut (Moraea fugax), and the strange-looking slime lilies, of which the Sandveld Slime Lily (Albuca fragrans) and Common Slime Lily (A . flaccida) are most common.

   2000, Peter Goldblatt, Wildflowers of the Fairest Cape: The Wildflowers of the Western Cape, South Africa

   Flowers of the African hyacinth genus Albuca (slime lilies) have long intrigued plant reproductive biologists on account of their tightly closed inner tepals with apices covered in papillae.

   2012 August 1, SD Johnson, “Pollination function transferred: modified tepals of Albuca (Hyacinthaceae) serve as secondary stigmas”, in Annals of Botany, volume 110, number 3, page 565