Albuca is a genus of about 60 to 70 species belonging to the Hyacinthaceae family. The most characteristic feature of the genus is the shape of the flower. The outer 3 tepals spread out like any normal flower, but the inner 3 stay more or less closed. The general appearance is therefore somewhat like a snowdrop Galanthus. The flowers do come in a limited colour range, white and yellow through to green, but are usually embellished with a green stripe down the middle of each outer tepal. Some species also have the tips of the inner, closed tepals coloured differently, either with white or bright yellow. Flowers are either presented in a nodding or drooping formation, or erect on firm pedicels (flower stalks). The tropical African species, on the other hand, have flowers on such short pedicels that the only position they can hold is sideways. Although there is not a great diversity in the shape of the flowers, there is however a fascinating range of leaf form. Some species do admittedly have rather uninteresting foliage; others have such unusual leaves that they could be grown as a foliage plant in their own right. Leaves can be boat-shaped, coiled into corkscrew shapes, or narrow and wavy like a slithering snake.

Albuca canadensis syn. Albuca altissima, syn. Ornithogalum maximum, syn. Ornithogalum canadense, syn. Albuca major. Although this species has been known by many other names and has been called Albuca maxima in books published as recently as 2005, the accepted name by the Kew Checklist and confirmed by John Manning is now Albuca canadensis which is a name that used to be used for a yellow flowered species. Flowers on this South African indigenous species are white with a green stripe, nodding or drooping with somewhat succulent leaves that are rigid and deeply channeled. It is winter growing with a very short summer dormancy and flowers in late winter and spring.