Ixia 'Jade Green'
Mary Sue Ittner (Wed, 04 Jun 2003 14:34:22 PDT)

Dear Sheri,

I wonder if Ixia 'Jade Green' is a fancy name for Ixia viridiflora. Ixias
are Irids and when the seeds come up there is one single leaf (grass-like).
Ixias, Sparaxis, Freesias, Gladiolus, Babianas, Tritonias, etc. all look
similar when they first come up. When you say regular leaves like a flower
do you mean dicot (two leaves)? If you do, what you have is not an Ixia.
Most Ixia seed is best started in the fall and in my experience if it is
going to come up does so in four to six weeks.

I, like many of our photographers, often focus on the flower which I
understand does not help very much for identification purposes. I wish
there were pictures in books not only of leaves but also of the storage
organ when I am trying to figure things out. But I love seeing what the
flowers look like so understand why that is what is usually shown.

Mary Sue