Plant in a bright shade, morning or late afternoon sun and water regularly while in active growth. It is noted as a winter grower with a late summer dormancy but can remain nearly evergreen and actively growing through fall but is not that happy with our wet and cooler winters, so is best protected, even in near frost-free locations. This is not a plant for planting in the garden here in California, but rather is a rare curiosity succulent plant for container growing. We grow our plants in a bright open area in our greenhouse and bring specimens out to display in late spring through fall but care need to be taken as the upright stems break easily but they also reroot readily.

Trachyandra saltii is native to the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula, Ethiopia south through tropical East Africa to northern South Africa, where it grow in grasslands, open woodlands or rocky places from 2,800 feet to 7,000 feet elevation. The areas are often subjected to regular fires and it is considered to be a pyrophyte, which is a plant that is adapted to frequent burning. This plant was originally described as Anthericum saltii in 1876 in the Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany (15: 309) by John Gilbert Baker and was reclassified as Trachyandra saltii by the South African botanist Anna Amelia Obermeyer in 1962 in Bothalia, the botanical and taxonomic journal that is now called Bothalia: African Biodiversity & Conservation. The name for the genus is from the combination of the Greek words 'trachy' meaning "rough" and 'andros' meaning "male" in reference to the rough stamen filaments. The specific epithet honors Henry Salt (1780-1827) a British artist, traveler, collector of antiquities, diplomat, and Egyptologist who returned to England from Abyssinia in 1811 with specimens of plants and animals, including this plant. The common name Wildeknoflok is used for this plant in Africa but also for some species of the Tulbaghia. Taxonomists have long had difficulty distinguishing between the allied genera to the spider plants in the genus Chlorophytum, such as those plants classified as Anthericum and Trachyandra. The name of this plant has shifted around over time and even what family to place them in has juggled around a bit with previous placement in the Liliaceae, Anthericaceae or Asparagaceae. The current treatment (for now!) is for them either in the Xanthorrhoeaceae or the Asphodelaceae with most current databases choosing the latter.

We began selling this plant in 2021 from plants propagated from stock plants purchased from Desert Images Nursery when it closed after founder Dick Bogart passed away in 2016. 

The information about Trachyandra saltii displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant.