Babiana

Plant Characteristics

Cultivation

Scientific Names

Babiana >

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Read about Babiana in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Babiana (said to come from Dutch for baboon, because those animals eat the bulbs). Iridaceae. About fifty cormous plants of South Africa (and one Socotran), sometimes grown for spring bloom under glass, or in the open in the South. Usually less than 1 ft. tall: fls. showy, red or purplish, in a short spike-like cluster or raceme, tubular at the base, the segms. with claws or narrow bases, and the limb erect-spreading, in marked colors and shades, often fragrant; ovary 3-loculed: lvs. narrow, hairy, plaited, standing edgewise to the st. Low plants, of easy culture if treated like freesias or hyacinths. Three or four corms placed in a 4-inch pot, in autumn, give attractive bloom in March or later. Grown only indoors or under frames in the North. Outdoors in mild climates they may remain continuously in the ground, although it is better to take up and replant every year or two. Propagation is by cormels and seeds. They are showy and useful plants. Monograph by Baker in Handbook of the Irideae, 1892. B. flabellifolia, Harv. Fls. 2-5, in erect spike, long-tubed, lower lobes blotched: lvs. ¾ in. broad, toothed at apex.—B. ringens, Ker. 6-10 in.: fls. gaping and ringent, scarlet: lvs. narrow and pointed.—B. zambucina, Ker. 6-10 in.: fls. purplish, with spreading divisions, elder-scented. B.M. 1019.—B. socotrana, Hook. f. 3-4 in.: fl. single, the tube very slender, pale blue, 2-lipped: Ivs. narrow-lanceolate, Isl. of Socotra. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

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