Freesia Pictures: freesia bouquet

Freesia is a genus of herbaceous perennial flowering plants in the family Iridaceae, first referred to 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 indigenous to the eastern aspect of southern Africa, from Kenya south to South Africa, most varieties being found in Cape Provinces. Varieties of the ex - genus Anomatheca are actually included in Freesia. The plant life commonly known as "freesias", with fragrant funnel-shaped flowers, are cultivated hybrids of lots of Freesia species. Some other types are also produced as ornamental plants.

They may be herbaceous plants which develop from a conical corm 1-2.5 cm size, which delivers 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 plants with six tepals. Many types have fragrant narrowly funnel-shaped plants, although those formerly located in the genus Anomatheca, such as F. laxa, have even flowers. Freesias are used as food plant life by the larvae of some Lepidoptera kinds including Large Yellow Underwing.

CULTIVATION AND USES

The plant life usually called "freesias" are derived from crosses manufactured in the 19th century between F. refracta and F. leichtlinii. Numerous cultivars have been bred from these types and the pink- and yellow-flowered varieties of F. corymbosa. Modern tetraploid cultivars have plants ranging from white to yellow, green, red and blue-mauve. They are really mostly cultivated appropriately in the Netherlands by about 80 growers.[3] Freesias can be commonly increased from seed. Due to their specific and desirable scent, they are often used in side products, shampoos, candles, etc.[citation needed], however, the blooms are mainly used in wedding bouquets. They could be planted in the fall season in USDA Hardiness Zones 9-10 (i.e. where the temperature does not land below about -7 ?C (20 ?F)), and in the spring in Areas 4-8.

Freesia laxa (previously called Lapeirousia laxa or Anomatheca cruenta) is one of the other types of the genus which is often cultivated. Smaller than the scented freesia cultivars, it offers flat rather 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 frosty dormancy which results in development of buds within the predicted number of weeks - often 5 weeks at 55 ?F (13 ?C).

Herbaceous vegetation (in botanical use frequently simply herbal selections) are vegetation which may have no consistent woody stem above surface. Herbaceous plants may be annuals, biennials or perennials. Annual herbaceous plants die completely at the end of the growing season or when they have got flowered and fruited, and they then increase again from seed. Herbaceous perennial and biennial plant life may have stems that die at the end of the growing season, but parts of the plant endure under or near to the ground from season to season (for biennials, until the next growing season, when they blossom and expire). New expansion develops from living tissues left over on or under the ground, including roots, a caudex (a thickened portion of the stem at walk out) or numerous kinds 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 & most grasses. By contrast, non-herbaceous perennial plants are woody vegetation which have stems above surface that remain alive through the dormant season and increase shoots the next season from the above-ground parts - these include trees, shrubs and vines.