Ixia

Ixia is a genus in the Iridaceae family with species mainly from the western, southwestern, and southern winter-rainfall areas of the northern, western and eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa. An older reference about Ixia is De Vos and Goldblatt, 1999. Peter Goldblatt and John Manning have updated the taxonomy of this genus since then. In 2008 they wrote about the Ixia rapunculoides complex; in 2011 they covered sections Hyalis and Morphixia; and in 2012 they covered section Dichone. In 2015 along with N.A. Helme they published new species and taxonomic notes. In that paper they noted at the time that there were about 98 species. Another resource is the web page Bill Richardson from Australia has created for this genus, but it does not reflect the changed taxonomy after the 1999 paper.

Many Ixia species can be easy to grow in a Mediterranean climate garden, and with their bright colors in mid-to-late spring, they're a welcome sight. Corms are planted in autumn in a free-draining potting mix in a sunny position. Most flowers only open on sunny days. Seed is also sown in autumn, the earlier in the season the better, to let them have as long a growing time as possible after germination before drying them off. Most species will multiply by producing new cormlets around the main corm and you can separate these in the dormant summer period. You can store them completely dry and replant the next autumn period.

For photos and information of species select the appropriate wiki page:

or click on the name in the table below.

Ixia species
Ixia abbreviata	Ixia brunneobractea	Ixia calendulacea	Ixia campanulata
Ixia capillaris	Ixia contorta	Ixia curta	Ixia curvata
Ixia divaricata	Ixia dubia	Ixia flexuosa	*Ixia frederickii
Ixia gloriosa	Ixia helmei	Ixia hybrids	Ixia latifolia
Ixia longituba	*Ixia lutea	Ixia maculata	Ixia macrocarpa
Ixia marginifolia	Ixia metelerkampiae	Ixia micrandra	Ixia monadelpha
Ixia mostertii	Ixia odorata	Ixia orientalis	Ixia paniculata
Ixia parva	Ixia polystachya	Ixia pumilio	Ixia purpureorosea
Ixia ramulosa	Ixia rapunculoides	Ixia scillaris	Ixia sobolifera
Ixia stricta	Ixia tenuifolia	Ixia thomasiae	Ixia trifolia
Ixia vinacea	Ixia versicolor	Ixia viridiflora