Nieuwoudtville is known as the 'bulb capital of the world'. This wouldn't surprise you when you realise how many different bulbous plants grow in the region around this small town and when you drive through the area and stop now and then to study the vegetation.

Nieuwoudtville is situated on the Bokkeveld Plateau. This town is nothing more than a very small place with about 100 houses, with a church! It is considered to be one of the most interesting growing areas of bulbous plants, or in more general term of geophytes. About 40% of the plants growing around Nieuwoudtville is a bulbous plant. In Namaqualand this is 16%. The percentage of endemic bulbous plants is much higher than in other areas, in and outside South Africa.

If you want to find bulbous plants, you just stop your car at any place along the road, step out and just look down what is growing next to the road. There is enough to see: a flowering Tenicroa filifolia, next to a Tenicroa multifolia of which ypu only see the leaves. T. multifolia shows its characteristic spirally twisted leaves. If you wouldn't know any better, you would think is a Gethyllis, Albuca or a Chlorophytum species. You can find various Bulbine species. It is very difficult to avoid Brunsvigia bosmaniae. Each bulb produces 4-10 large leaves which grow on the surface of the soil. The individual leaves reach a length of 30 cm. The species flowers at the beginning of the South African Autumn; March-April. The more precise moment of flowering is 3 weeks after the first abudant rainfall. The flowers a pink coloured and stand in an umbel. Further you find various Lachenalia and Babiana species, like Babiana vanzyliae.

In the fields of most sheep farms you won't see many flowering plants. This is not the case at Glenlyon, the farm of Neil MacGregor. Neil started over 30 years ago with a more natural way of farming on his 6,500 ha large farm. Nowadays the results are visible: large fields in flowering with all kind of bulbs. Watch out where you walk! On as sunny afternoon in August this is the result of waljing around: Hesperantha vaginata, H. pauciflora, Romulea sabulosa, Lapeirousia oreogena, Bulbinella nutans, Albuca maxima and various Babiana, Homeria and Ixia species.