Albuca spiralis

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Originally Posted by MrHappyRotter

Any ideas what species / hybrid it could be, if it's not spiralis?

It may be because I've grown it too moist, but a few/couple weeks ago, it started sending up new leaves, and then within the past week, all the old leaves started dying off. I decided to repot it yesterday, roots looked good and healthy. So, I'm guessing this is one that doesn't go fully dormant.

I would suspect this:
Pacific Bulb Society | Albuca namaquensis
It is usually sold by hobbyists as A. spiralis but that is a different plant.

At first it's very hard for people to wrap their head around the Mediterranean climate unless they've lived in such a climate. The west coast of North America from about Cataviña in Baja California all the way up into Oregon has this climate. So does western South Africa, southwestern Australia, and the west coast of South America from the southern tip up well into Peru. The climate features cool wet winters and long, hot, almost completely dry summers. In other words, the plants grow when it's cool and wet in the winter and go dormant for the hot summer. Summer watering of plants from these areas often leads to quick death. A lot of Australian terrestrial orchids come from such a climate.

Most Albuca are winter growers, but they are more tolerant of summer watering than almost any other southern African winter-rainfall bulbs. That is why they survive in summer-watering greenhouses. Some Albuca are normally evergreen and some are true summer-growers.

A. namaquensis normally goes completely dormant in spring. It loses its leaves and most of its roots for the summer. It does best with a completely dry and warm summer dormancy with low humidity if possible. It survives watering at the wrong time of year but then may grow on an erratic schedule.

It should bloom sometime in late summer, before or just as it grows leaves. The bloom stalks emerge from dry soil. If the plant grows leaves without blooming, it usually won't bloom that season. It sets seed which ripens in time for the expected winter rain.

In most high-latitude greenhouses its leaves are not nearly as tightly spiraled as they are in bright winter sun. They should look like narrow, tightly curled ribbons of smooth, dull, dark green wax. It ripens seed in midwinter, grows through the winter, then goes dormant again when temperatures get warm.