Freesia is a genus of herbaceous perennial flowering crops 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 really is local to the eastern side of southern Africa, from Kenya south to South Africa, most species being found in Cape Provinces. Types of the former genus Anomatheca are actually included in Freesia. The crops commonly known as "freesias", with fragrant funnel-shaped flowers, are cultivated hybrids of a number of Freesia varieties. Some other kinds are also expanded as ornamental crops.
They can be herbaceous vegetation which develop from a conical corm 1-2.5 cm diameter, which delivers up a tuft of thin leaves 10-30 cm long, and a sparsely branched stem 10-40 cm large bearing a few leaves and a loose one-sided spike of flowers with six tepals. Many varieties have fragrant narrowly funnel-shaped plants, although those previously put in the genus Anomatheca, such as F. laxa, have smooth flowers. Freesias are being used as food vegetation by the larvae of some Lepidoptera varieties including Large Yellow Underwing.
CULTIVATION AND USES
The vegetation usually called "freesias" derive from crosses made in the 19th century between F. refracta and F. leichtlinii. Numerous cultivars have been bred from these species and the pink- and yellow-flowered varieties of F. corymbosa. Modern tetraploid cultivars have blossoms which range from white to yellowish, pink, red and blue-mauve. They are really mostly cultivated appropriately in holland by about 80 growers.[3] Freesias can be immediately increased from seed. Because of their specific and pleasing scent, they are often used in palm lotions, shampoos, candles, etc.[citation needed], however, the plants are mainly utilized in wedding bouquets. They can be planted in the land in USDA Hardiness Zones 9-10 (i.e. where in fact the temperature does not land 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 offers flat alternatively than cup-shaped blooms. Extensive 'forcing' of this bulb occurs in two Moon Bay in California where several growers chill the lights in proprietary solutions to satisfy wintry dormancy which results in creation of buds within a predicted volume of weeks - often 5 weeks at 55 ?F (13 ?C).
Herbaceous plants (in botanical use frequently simply natural remedies) are vegetation that contain no persistent woody stem above floor. Herbaceous plants may be annuals, biennials or perennials. Total annual herbaceous plants perish completely by the end of the growing season or when they have flowered and fruited, and they then increase again from seed. Herbaceous perennial and biennial plants may have stems that die by the end of the growing season, but parts of the plant endure under or near the bottom from season to season (for biennials, until the next growing season, when they flower and die). New progress produces from living tissue left over on or under the bottom, including roots, a caudex (a thickened part of the stem at ground level) or various types 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 & most grasses. In comparison, non-herbaceous perennial plant life are woody plants that have stems above earth that stay alive through the dormant season and increase shoots another yr from the above-ground parts - these include trees, shrubs and vines.