{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}} {{Speciesbox |image = Anomatheca laxa01.JPG |genus = Freesia |species = laxa |authority = (Thunb.) Goldblatt & J.C.Manning |synonyms = {{Specieslist |Gladiolus laxus|Thunb. |Meristostigma laxum|(Thunb.) A.Dietr. |Lapeirousia laxa|(Thunb.) N.E.Br. |Anomatheca laxa|(Thunb.) Goldblatt |Lapeirousia cruenta|(Lindl.) Baker |Freesia cruenta|(Lindl.) Klatt. }} |synonyms_ref = <ref name=WCSP_Fl/> }}
'''''Freesia laxa''''', commonly known as '''flowering grass''',<ref name = RHSPF>{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/167668/i-Freesia-laxa-i/Details | title = RHS Plantfinder - ''Freesia laxa'' | accessdate = 27 February 2018}}</ref> is a small species of cormous flowering plant in the family Iridaceae, from eastern and southern Africa, from Kenya to northeastern South Africa.<ref name=WCSP_Fl/> It is grown in gardens as an ornamental plant.
==Description== ''Freesia laxa'' grows from corms, reaching about {{convert|15|-|30|cm|in|abbr=on|0}} tall. The green leaves are arranged in a flat "fan" from which the flower stalk emerges. The flowers are flattened, about {{convert|2|cm|in|abbr=on|1}} across. Their colour varies considerably. The ground colour is red, white or pale blue. The bases of the lowest three tepals usually have a darker marking, which may be red or purple, although it is absent in the pure white form. The seeds are bright red.<ref name=Math87>{{Citation |last=Mathew |first=Brian |year=1987 |title=The Smaller Bulbs |location=London |publisher=B.T. Batsford |isbn=978-0-7134-4922-8 }}, p. 9</ref><ref name=Inne85>{{Citation |last=Innes |first=Clive |year=1985 |title=The World of Iridaceae |location=Ashington, UK |publisher=Holly Gate International |isbn=978-0-948236-01-3 }}, p. 18</ref>
It is native to the eastern side of southern Africa,<ref name=Math87/> from Kenya to South Africa,<ref name=WCSP_Fl/> where it grows in somewhat moist conditions. It dies down to a corm in the winter, growing again at the end of spring and flowering in summer.<ref name=Math87/> In the wild, in the Southern Hemisphere, it flowers between October and December.<ref name=Inne85/>
==Systematics== This small bulbous species has been known by a variety of names. The name ''Gladiolus laxus'' was originally published by Carl Thunberg in 1823. Peter Goldblatt transferred the species to ''Anomatheca laxa'' in 1971; Nicholas Brown changed it to ''Lapeirousia laxa'' in 1928; Goldblatt with his colleague John Charles Manning settled on ''Freesia laxa'' in 1995.<ref name=WCSP_Fl>{{Citation |contribution=Freesia laxa|title=World Checklist of Selected Plant Families |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |url=http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=328131 |accessdate=2012-08-13}}</ref> Separately, in 1830, John Lindley described ''Anomatheca cruenta'' which John Baker transferred to ''Lapeirousia cruenta'' in 1892.<ref name=WCSP_Ac>{{Citation |contribution=Anomatheca cruenta|title=World Checklist of Selected Plant Families |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |url=http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=326436 |accessdate=2012-08-13}}</ref> Lindley's plant is now regarded as part of ''Freesia laxa''.<ref name=WCSP_Fl/>
Forms with blue flowers are treated as ''Freesia laxa'' subsp. ''azurea'', other forms being placed in ''Freesia laxa'' subsp. ''laxa''.<ref name=PBS/><ref>{{cite web |title=Freesia laxa - FNA |url=http://beta.floranorthamerica.org/Freesia_laxa |website=beta.floranorthamerica.org |access-date=22 July 2024}}</ref>
==Cultivation== ''Freesia laxa'' is sufficiently hardy to be grown outdoors in all but the coldest parts of the British Isles.<ref name=Math87/> It requires a light soil and a sunny position. In colder areas, the corms can be lifted and dried off during the winter. It can be propagated by dividing groups of corms or by seed.<ref name=Math87/> It can be somewhat invasive through self-sowing when grown in favourable conditions.<ref name=PBS>{{Citation |title=Freesia |publisher=Pacific Bulb Society |url=http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Freesia |accessdate=2012-08-13 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622234346/http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Freesia |archivedate=2012-06-22 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
<!-- (NO LONGER AGM) This plant< and the white-flowered cultivar ''F. laxa'' var. ''alba''<ref>{{cite web|title=RHS Plant Selector - ''Freesia laxa'' var. ''alba''|url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/303181/Freesia-laxa-var-alba/Details | accessdate = 7 June 2020}}</ref> have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/agm-lists/agm-ornamentals.pdf | title = AGM Plants - Ornamental | date = July 2017 | page = 39 | publisher = Royal Horticultural Society | accessdate = 27 February 2018}}</ref> -->
{{multiple image|total_width=600|align=center |title=Variation in flower colour |width1=1998|height1=1368|image1=Freesia laxa (white with red mark form).jpg |caption1=This form is sometimes given the cultivar name 'Joan Evans'<ref name=PBS/> |width2=2574|height2=1755|image2=Freesia laxa (white form).jpg |caption2=Almost pure white form }}
==References== {{Reflist}} * {{cite book | author=Pink, A. | url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11892|title=Gardening for the Million| year=2004 | publisher=Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation}}
==External links== {{Commons}} *[http://nature.jardin.free.fr/bulbe/ft_freesia_laxa.html ''Freesia laxa''] * {{AfricanPlants|Freesia laxa}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q5501152}}
laxa Category:Garden plants Category:Flora of Africa Category:Plants described in 1823