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Freesia is a genus of herbaceous perennial flowering vegetation in the family Iridaceae, first referred to as a genus in 1866 by Chr. Fr. Echlon (1795-1868) and named after German botanist and doctor Friedrich Freese (1794-1878). It is local to the eastern area of southern Africa, from Kenya south to South Africa, most species being found in Cape Provinces. Types of the previous genus Anomatheca are now included in Freesia. The plants often called "freesias", with fragrant funnel-shaped flowers, are cultivated hybrids of lots of Freesia varieties. Some other types are also grown as ornamental plant life.

They may be herbaceous plant life which increase from a conical corm 1-2.5 cm diameter, which delivers up a tuft of narrow 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 plants with six tepals. Many types have fragrant narrowly funnel-shaped blooms, although those previously located in the genus Anomatheca, such as F. laxa, have smooth flowers. Freesias are used as food vegetation by the larvae of some Lepidoptera types including Large Yellowish Underwing.

CULTIVATION AND USES

The plants usually called "freesias" derive from crosses made in the 19th hundred years between F. refracta and F. leichtlinii. Numerous cultivars have been bred from these types and the green- and yellow-flowered forms of F. corymbosa. Modern tetraploid cultivars have plants which range from white to yellowish, pink, red and blue-mauve. They are mostly cultivated expertly in the Netherlands by about 80 growers.[3] Freesias can be commonly increased from seed. Because of their specific and desirable scent, they are often used in hands lotions, 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 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 species of the genus which is often cultivated. Smaller than the scented freesia cultivars, it has flat somewhat than cup-shaped plants. Extensive 'forcing' of this bulb occurs in two Moon Bay in California where several growers chill the light bulbs in proprietary methods to satisfy chilly dormancy which results in formation of buds in just a predicted volume of weeks - often 5 weeks at 55 ?F (13 ?C).

Herbaceous crops (in botanical use frequently simply herbal products) are vegetation that have no persistent woody stem above floor. Herbaceous plants may be annuals, biennials or perennials. Total annual herbaceous plants perish completely at the end of the growing season or when they have flowered and fruited, and they then develop again from seed. Herbaceous perennial and biennial plants may have stems that die by the end of the growing season, but elements of the plant make it through under or close to the ground from season to season (for biennials, before next growing season, when they bloom and perish). New expansion grows from living cells left over on or under the ground, including origins, a caudex (a thickened part of the stem at walk out) or numerous kinds of underground stems, such as light 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 plant life are woody plant life which have stems above floor that continue to be alive through the dormant season and develop shoots another yr from the above-ground parts - these include trees, shrubs and vines.

Freesia Wallpaper