A genus comprising about thirty species of small non-hardy
South African bulbous plants. They are not spectacular, but they do possess
great elegance and charm, with their small, inch-wide, star-like flowers borne
on thin wiry stems. They are much appreciated for cutting and will last long in
vases. Above all, they are interesting for their remarkable range of colours,
which includes many tints not usually found among other flowers, particularly
in the colours such as orange, pink, scarlet, crimson, yellow, and even green
and black. They are warm-climate plants, and while the corms may tolerate
slight frost they will not survive outside in areas where the ground becomes
deeply frozen for long periods. They also make excellent pot plants. The corms
are small and should be planted in October–November, mulching the soil surface
with a good layer of straw, salt hay, leaves, ashes, or peat if it is likely to
freeze during the winter, but removing the protective layer when surface growth
appears. Flowering begins about mid-summer and is long-lasting; the small
star-like blooms are closely arranged on erect spikes. The foliage is linear,
graceful, and grass-like. All the species given here are attractive, especially
the so-called green-flowered species, Ixia viridiflora. Corms offered for sale
are generally a mixture of hybrid origin, with a very wide selection of
colours. Named varieties in separate, distinct colours are, however, also
available commercially. Propagation is easily effected by dividing the dormant
corms, which should be treated in the same manner as tulips—removed from the
soil after flowering, dried, stored, and replanted the following autumn. Ixias
can also be raised from seed sown in a warm greenhouse in spring, but several
years are necessary to produce flowering-sized corms.