Freesias are a pretty variety of irises from the Iridaceae family

Freesia is a genus of herbaceous perennial flowering plants in the family Iridaceae, first described as a genus in 1866 by Chr. Fr. Echlon (1795-1868) and known as after German botanist and doctor Friedrich Freese (1794-1878). It really is local to the eastern side of southern Africa, from Kenya south to South Africa, most kinds being found in Cape Provinces. Kinds of the former genus Anomatheca are actually contained in Freesia. The vegetation commonly known as "freesias", with fragrant funnel-shaped blooms, are cultivated hybrids of a number of Freesia kinds. Some other kinds are also cultivated as ornamental plant life.

They can be herbaceous vegetation which develop from a conical corm 1-2.5 cm size, which delivers up a tuft of slim leaves 10-30 cm long, and a sparsely branched stem 10-40 cm high bearing a few leaves and a loose one-sided spike of blooms with six tepals. Many kinds have fragrant narrowly funnel-shaped plants, although those formerly located in the genus Anomatheca, such as F. laxa, have smooth flowers. Freesias are used as food plant life by the larvae of some Lepidoptera varieties including Large Yellowish Underwing.

CULTIVATION AND USES

The crops usually called "freesias" derive from crosses manufactured in the 19th century between F. refracta and F. leichtlinii. Numerous cultivars have been bred from these kinds and the green- and yellow-flowered forms of F. corymbosa. Modern tetraploid cultivars have blossoms which range from white to yellow, pink, red and blue-mauve. They may be mostly cultivated professionally in holland by about 80 growers.[3] Freesias can be immediately increased from seed. Due to their specific and desirable scent, they are often used in palm ointments, shampoos, candles, etc.[citation needed], however, the blooms are mainly utilized in wedding bouquets. They can be planted in the show up in USDA Hardiness Areas 9-10 (i.e. where in fact the temperature does not fall season below about -7 ?C (20 ?F)), and in the planting season in Zones 4-8.

Freesia laxa (previously called Lapeirousia laxa or Anomatheca cruenta) is one of the other kinds of the genus which is often cultivated. Smaller than the scented freesia cultivars, they have flat rather than cup-shaped plants. Extensive 'forcing' of this bulb occurs in Half Moon Bay in California where several growers chill the lights in proprietary solutions to satisfy wintry dormancy which results in development of buds in just a predicted variety of weeks - often 5 weeks at 55 ?F (13 ?C).

Herbaceous plants (in botanical use frequently simply herbal remedies) are plant life which have no persistent woody stem above surface. Herbaceous vegetation may be annuals, biennials or perennials. Total annual herbaceous plants pass away completely by the end of the growing season or when they have got flowered and fruited, plus they then develop again from seed. Herbaceous perennial and biennial plants may have stems that die at the end of the growing season, but parts of the plant endure under or close to the ground from season to season (for biennials, before next growing season, when they bloom and expire). New expansion produces from living cells staying on or under the ground, including roots, a caudex (a thickened part of the stem at ground level) or various types of underground stems, such as lights, corms, stolons, rhizomes and tubers. Examples of herbaceous biennials include carrot, parsnip and common ragwort; herbaceous perennials include potato, peony, hosta, mint, most ferns and most grasses. By contrast, non-herbaceous perennial plants are woody crops that have stems above surface that stay alive through the dormant season and develop shoots the next calendar year from the above-ground parts - these include trees and shrubs, shrubs and vines.

Freesia Wallpaper