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 is native to the eastern side of southern Africa, from Kenya south to South Africa, most varieties being within Cape Provinces. Types of the previous genus Anomatheca are actually included in Freesia. The plants commonly known as "freesias", with fragrant funnel-shaped bouquets, are cultivated hybrids of lots of Freesia types. Some other types are also produced as ornamental plant life.
These are herbaceous plants which increase from a conical corm 1-2.5 cm size, which sends up a tuft of thin leaves 10-30 cm long, and a sparsely branched stem 10-40 cm tall bearing a few leaves and a loose one-sided spike of blooms with six tepals. Many varieties have fragrant narrowly funnel-shaped plants, although those previously placed in the genus Anomatheca, such as F. laxa, have level flowers. Freesias are being used as food vegetation by the larvae of some Lepidoptera types including Large Yellow Underwing.
CULTIVATION AND USES
The plants usually called "freesias" derive from crosses made in the 19th century between F. refracta and F. leichtlinii. Numerous cultivars have been bred from these varieties and the pink- and yellow-flowered forms of F. corymbosa. Modern tetraploid cultivars have plants which range from white to yellow, pink, red and blue-mauve. These are mostly cultivated appropriately in the Netherlands by about 80 growers.[3] Freesias can be immediately increased from seed. Because of the specific and attractive scent, they are often used in hand ointments, shampoos, candles, etc.[citation needed], however, the plants are mainly used in wedding bouquets. They can be planted in the fall in USDA Hardiness Zones 9-10 (i.e. where in fact the temperature will not fall below about -7 ?C (20 ?F)), and in the springtime in Areas 4-8.
Freesia laxa (formerly called Lapeirousia laxa or Anomatheca cruenta) is one of the other varieties 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 bulbs in proprietary solutions to satisfy frosty dormancy which results in creation of buds inside a predicted variety of weeks - often 5 weeks at 55 ?F (13 ?C).
Herbaceous vegetation (in botanical use frequently simply herbal selections) are vegetation that have no prolonged woody stem above surface. Herbaceous crops may be annuals, biennials or perennials. Annual herbaceous plants die completely at the end of the growing season or when they have flowered and fruited, plus they then grow again from seed. Herbaceous perennial and biennial crops may have stems that pass away at the end of the growing season, but elements of the plant make it through under or near the ground from season to season (for biennials, before next growing season, when they blossom and die). New growth develops from living cells remaining 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 bulbs, 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 crops are woody plant life that have stems above ground that continue to be alive through the dormant season and grow shoots another year from the above-ground parts - these include trees, shrubs and vines.
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