Does anyone know the name of this specimen?

[mel turner]

In article <3B3F4E19.99ACDCC3 at xs4all.nl>, mandel at xs4all.nl [Mandel] wrote...

>This a strange plant.
>-It has a bulb that can become 30-35 cm in diameter
>-The bulb grows above (on) grondlevel
>-It created one thin bright-green stem, which branches off into thinner
>upright stems, branching again...3-4
>  levels.
>-This stem can get very long; longer than 1 meter
>-This stem is replaced ones or twice per year
>-It has no other leafs or leaflike structures
>-It has no (known) flowers
>
>Does anyone know the name of this specimen?
>
>Here is the URL of an image:
>
>http://www.xs4all.nl/~cvdmark/plant.jpg
>

It's _Bowiea volubilis_. 

http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Liliaceae/Bowiea_volubilis.html
http://gifte.de/bowiea.htm

It's African. As I recall, the bulbs are supposedly very 
poisonous.

It's an interesting succulent plant in which the flowering 
scapes of its onionlike ancestors have become twining green 
vines and the basal foliage of the plant is suppressed [other 
than the bladeless bulb scales]

cheers