FEEESIA 



THE BULB BOOK 



FREESIA 



bulbs or corms with fibrous coats, 

 flat, narrow, rigid leaves, and tubular 

 bell-shaped flowers borne on slender 

 wiry stems, often 2 ft. high in well- 

 cultivated specimens. 



P. refracta (Gladiolus refractus ; 

 Tritonia refracta). Introduced in 

 1815 from S. Africa, this species and 

 its varieties are greater favourites in 



FIG. 142. Freesia refracta. 



gardens than ever. The typical 

 species has ovoid corms, having 

 thickish fibrous or netted coats, and 

 produce five to six narrow leaves. 

 The roundish, slender, flexuose stems, 

 1 to l ft. high, bear several yellowish- 

 white, tubular, sweet-scented flowers, 

 sometimes striped or tinted with pale 

 violet, and usually spotted with 

 orange at the base of the segments. 



(Red. Lil. t. 415 ; Bot. Reg. t. 135 ; 

 Jacq. Ic. t. 241.) 



There are several varieties, the best 

 known being alba, having fine white 

 flowers without the yellow blotches 

 seen in the type ; Armstrongi, intro- 

 duced to Kew in 1898 from Port 

 Elizabeth by Mr W. Armstrong, after 

 whom it was named by Mr W. 

 Watson, in the Gardeners' Chronicle. 

 It has branching scapes, about 20 ins. 

 high, and white flowers splashed with 

 orange at the base and heavily 

 bordered with rich rose ; Leichtlini, 

 with large pale citron -yellow flowers 

 blotched with yellow ochre (Gartenfl. 

 t. 808); odorata (formerly called 

 Tritonia odorata), with bright yellow 

 flowers (Bot. Cab. 1. 1820) ; Tubergeni, 

 soft carmine rose, a large-flowered 

 hybrid between F. refracta alba and 

 F. Armstrongi. 



In addition to these, which may be 

 regarded as natural varieties, many 

 charming forms have been raised 

 from seed during recent years. 

 Judging by the range of colour 

 indicated above, it is not surprising 

 that some remarkably fine white, 

 yellow, orange, and apricot-coloured 

 forms have been raised. Mr F. 

 Herbert Chapman, of Rye, Sussex, 

 has done excellent work in this direc- 

 tion. His variety, called Chapmanni, 

 is a handsome yellow hybrid blotched 

 with rich orange on the lower seg- 

 ment of the perianth, and at the back 

 of the tube. Another of his hybrids, 

 albo-citrina, is a fine seedling from 

 refracta alba, quite distinct, with a 

 shade of green in the sweet-scented 

 bell-shaped blossoms. 



In America also great work has 

 been done of late years amongst the 

 Freesias, and one variety in particular, 

 called Purity, is grown in hundreds 

 of thousands by nurserymen, or 

 "florists" as they are called in the 

 United States. 



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