Freesia Pictures: freesia bulbs

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 called after German botanist and doctor Friedrich Freese (1794-1878). It really is native to the eastern part of southern Africa, from Kenya south to South Africa, most varieties being found in Cape Provinces. Kinds of the former genus Anomatheca are actually contained in Freesia. The plant life commonly known as "freesias", with fragrant funnel-shaped bouquets, are cultivated hybrids of lots of Freesia types. Some other types are also cultivated as ornamental plant life.

These are herbaceous plant life which develop from a conical corm 1-2.5 cm size, which sends up a tuft of small 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 bouquets with six tepals. Many types have fragrant narrowly funnel-shaped blooms, although those formerly positioned in the genus Anomatheca, such as F. laxa, have level flowers. Freesias are used as food vegetation by the larvae of some Lepidoptera types including Large Yellow 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 types and the red- and yellow-flowered types of F. corymbosa. Modern tetraploid cultivars have blooms which range from white to yellow, green, red and blue-mauve. These are mostly cultivated professionally in holland by about 80 growers.[3] Freesias can be quickly increased from seed. Because of the specific and pleasing scent, they are often used in side creams, shampoos, candles, etc.[citation needed], however, the blooms are mainly utilized in wedding bouquets. They could be planted in the show up in USDA Hardiness Zones 9-10 (i.e. where the temperature will not fall below about -7 ?C (20 ?F)), and in the springtime 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, they have flat somewhat than cup-shaped bouquets. Extensive 'forcing' of the bulb occurs in Half Moon Bay in California where several growers chill the bulbs in proprietary solutions to satisfy chilly dormancy which results in development of buds in just a predicted number of weeks - often 5 weeks at 55 ?F (13 ?C).

Herbaceous vegetation (in botanical use frequently simply herbal selections) are plants that contain no continual woody stem above surface. Herbaceous plants may be annuals, biennials or perennials. Annual herbaceous plants expire completely at the end of the growing season or when they have flowered and fruited, and they then increase again from seed. Herbaceous perennial and biennial plant life may have stems that pass away at the end of the growing season, but parts of the plant endure under or near to the bottom from season to season (for biennials, before next growing season, when they bloom and perish). New expansion produces from living cells staying on or under the bottom, including roots, a caudex (a thickened portion of the stem at ground level) or various types of underground stems, such as bulbs, corms, stolons, rhizomes and tubers. Types 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 vegetation are woody vegetation that have stems above earth that stay alive during the dormant season and grow shoots another year from the above-ground parts - these include trees and shrubs, shrubs and vines.