Bulbous plant of the Amaryllidaceae family, native to the western Mediterranean region, mainly Spain and southern France, where it grows on rocky slopes, garrigues, and light, dry woodlands.
It is the golden garlic of Antiquity: the moly of the Greeks, a magical plant mentioned in Homer's Odyssey, which the god Hermes offered to Ulysses to protect him from Circe's enchantments. Its flowers are bright and luminous yellow, star-shaped, gathered in flat umbels of 4-6 cm, borne on stems of 20-30 cm in May-June. The leaves are broad, glaucous, reminiscent of those of a small tulip.
Easy and robust, it readily naturalizes under deciduous trees and shrubs, in well-drained soils. It tolerates light to moderate shade and summer drought. It propagates by division of clumps and by spontaneous seeding, potentially forming large colonies over time.