Fragrant Wandflower (Sparaxis fragrans)
Description
Sparaxis fragrans is a tender, summer-dormant herbaceous perennial grown for its early yellow flowers. It is native to clay-soil scrublands ("renosterveld") in the Southwest Cape region of South Africa.This member of the Iris family produces fans of slender, sword-shaped leaves that appear in late fall or winter and wither away in spring. Compact, few-flowered spikes of 1.2-inch-wide (3-cm), sour-scented flowers appear in late winter or early spring. The buff to bright-yellow blooms are star-shaped with six narrow spreading lobes. The outside of the flower may be purple-tinged. The blossoms are followed by small barrel-shaped seed capsules. Plants may self-sow in favorable climates.Sparaxis make delightful garden perennials for areas (such as western California) with mild moist winters and warm dryish summers. They do poorly in hot humid conditions. Plants perform best in ample sunlight and well-drained, moisture-retentive soil. In areas with cold winters, the corms can be dug in fall and replanted in spring for late spring or summer bloom. Spring bulb catalogs sometimes offer corms of Sparaxis for planting as summer-blooming annuals. Sparaxis fragrans is an iris plant species first described by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin , and became known as Ker Gawl. Savexi's fragrans are included in the genus Sparxis and the family iris plants . No subspecies are listed in the Catalog of Life .
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Liliopsida
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Order: Asparagales
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Family: Iridaceae
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Genus: Sparaxis
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