Citation: L., Sp. Pl. edn 2:51 (1762).

Derivation: Greek ixia, the name of some plant of variable colour.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Ixias.

Description:
Deciduous perennial herbs, dormant in summer; corm globose to ovoid, with a fibrous tunic; leaves few, mostly basal, equitant, distichous, flat, linear, glabrous.

Scape terete, wiry, erect, partly sheathed by leaves; spike distichous or with spirally-arranged flowers; flowers sessile, actinomorphic, erect, solitary in each spathe; bracts short, paired, truncate, subequal, scarious to membranous, the inner one 2-fid; perianth tube straight, narrowly cylindric, widened at the apex only; lobes confluent with the tube, equal, patent; stamens inserted on the tube, usually free, equilateral; anthers linear, basifixed, usually exserted; style branches 3, entire, filiform, recurved.

Capsule globose to obovoid, thin-walled, smooth; seeds small, numerous, angular.

Distribution:  (G. J. Lewis (1962) Jl S. Afr. Bot. 28:45-195.) 45 species native to South Africa; several are cultivated and naturalised as garden escapes in Australia. Key adapted from Lewis (1962).

Biology: No text

Key to Species:

1. Perianth tube 4-7 cm long	I. paniculata 2.
1. Perianth tube to 1.4 cm long
2. Flowers green, with a dark purple or reddish centre; anthers c. 3 times as long as the filaments	I. viridiflora 4.
2. Flowers not green; anthers up to twice as long as the filaments
3. Spathes 8-14 mm long, papery, the upper half rust-coloured or densely streaked brown	I. maculata 1.
3. Spathes 3-7 mm long, pellucid, membranous, whitish, sometimes faintly veined	I. polystachya 3.

Author: Not yet available