BOWIEA KILIMANDSCHARICA, near the mount KILIMANDSCHARO, and BOWIEA NANA, with smaller bulbs, are thought to be synonyms.
The name BOWIEA is given after a british plant collector, named JAMES BOWIE, living from 1789 to 1869, in england. The genus has been created in 1867 by WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY.
The habitats of BOWIEA VOLUBILIS are river valleys, bush savanna and hills and slopes. You will find "her" from East Africa down to the eastern South Africa.
If you accept BOWIEA GARIEPENSIS as a synonym than BOWIEA VOLUBILIS will extend its habitats over the southern and south western parts of South Africa up to southern Namibia.
The bulbs are geophytes that means they are buried down in the earth - as mostly all bulbs are - and might reach a diameter of about 25 cm.
The shoots are thriving up to a height of 5 m.
BOWIEA VOLUBILIS will grow in every substrate. It favors granitic and humus soil.
My BOWIEA is a seedling i have sown in 2008. The bulb is as big as a tennis ball and i have buried it deep in the earth in its first year. Nowadays it has outgrown its earthen "prison".
As substrate i use lava and peat as a 50% to 50% mixture.
Watering will begin when the bulb shows its first shoots. This might be in April, May or June. I treat the plant as my normal cacti and water again only when the substrate has been dried out again. Or nearly dried out. This is not a must!
Fertilizer is allways added to the water and thus in a very low concentration. In nature this will be the same.
When the branches and branchlets are yellowing it is time to stop the watering. I put it under a shelter so that the rainfall might not weaten the plant. If the temperature goes under 10°C i will take her inside. During winter she will stand temperatures down to 5°C.
The plant stands the whole spring, summer and autumn out on my balcony. I only shelter it from rain if the bulb stays dormant.
Flowering will occure in the end of summer and the autumn. The flowers are green and no beauties at all.
My plant has never born fruits or seeds. I don t know if you might need 2 plants to have sex and harvest seeds.
It is a very easy to cultivate plant. The whole plant is green - the bulb, the branches and branchlets, the flowers...
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