Sparaxis
| Habit | bulbous |
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Sparaxis > |
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| Origin: | ✈ | ? |
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| Exposure: | ☼ | ?"?" is not in the list (sun, part-sun, shade, unknown) of allowed values for the "Exposure" property. |
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| Water: | ◍ | ?"?" is not in the list (wet, moist, moderate, dry, less when dormant) of allowed values for the "Water" property. |
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Sparaxis > |
Read about Sparaxis in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Sparaxis (Greek word referring to the torn or lacerated spathes, a character which distinguishes this genus from Tritonia). Iridaceae. Wand-flower. Bulbs or corms with fibrous coating, the plants suitable for outdoor planting but grown mostly under glass. Stems simple or slightly branched: lvs. few, flat, sword-like or broadly linear, erect or falcate: spathes few, remote or sometimes solitary, broad-striate or frequently marked with short brown lines: fls. 1 to a spathe, sessile, rather large, yellow; perianth-tube short and slender, 6-lobed; ovary 3-celled: caps. membranaceous, ovoid or oblong, included in the spathe.—About 3 species, Cape Colony, S. Afr. Sparaxis is a group of spring-blooming Cape bulbs of the Ixia tribe, with spikes of 6-petaled, more or less funnel-shaped fls. 1-2 in. across and exhibiting an extraordinary range of color and throat - markings. These plants are less popular than ixias, which they much resemble. The plants are dwarfer and more compact than ixias, usually 6-12 in. high, the spikes are shorter and fewer-fld., and the blossoms are sometimes larger. Sparaxis is essentially distinguished from Ixia and other allied genera by the subregular perianth, unilateral and arcuate stamens, and scarious lacerated spathe-valves. Although a few plants of sparaxis are occasionally cultivated in America by bulb-fanciers, one may search through many American catalogues without finding them listed. The Dutch bulb-growers offer twenty-five distinct kinds, which is perhaps a quarter of the number of varieties of ixias in cultivation. According to J. G. Baker, there is "only one species in a broad sense, varying indefinitely in the size and coloring of the flowers." For practical purposes Baker recognizes the three species given below; of these the most important and variable is S. tricolor. Sparaxis pulcherrima of the Dutch trade is properly Dierama pulcherrima, Baker. This grows as much as 6 feet high and has pendulous bright blood-purple flowers but apparently with pale rose and perhaps other varieties (also a white variety). It is distinguished by its pendulous flowers with regular perianth, simple style-branches, equilateral stamens, and large bracts which are not laciniate. CH
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Species
about 13 specieswp
- Sparaxis bulbifera is the commonest in cultivation, with flowers from cream to yellow or purple. wp
- Sparaxis grandiflora is a similar to S. bulbifera but larger plant. wp
- Sparaxis tricolor has bright red flowers with yellow and black centres. wp
Many named hybrid cultivars were bred from S. bulbifera and S. tricolor. wp
A group of species with asymmetrical flowers marked in mauve and yellow, including Sparaxis variegata and Sparaxis villosa, was formerly treated as the genus Synnotia.wp
Gallery
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photo 1
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Sparaxis plants
Sparaxis plants
References
- Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
External links
- w:Sparaxis. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
- Sparaxis QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)