The genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Ixia consists of a number of corm

Corm

A corm is a short, vertical, swollen underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ used by some plants to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat ....

ous plants native to South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 from the Iridaceae

Iridaceae

The Iris family or Iridaceae is a family of perennial, herbaceous and bulbous plants included in the monocot order Asparagales, taking its name from the genus Iris. Almost worldwide in distribution and one of the most important families in horticulture, it includes more than 2000 species...

 family and Ixioideae

Ixioideae

Crocoideae is one of the major subfamilies in the Iridaceae family.It contains plants which are wildly distributed in the Old world, mainly in Africa, but there are species like some members of the genera Romulea and Gladiolus which are native to Europe and Asia...

 subfamily. Some of them are known as the corn lily. Some distinctive traits include: sword-like leaves, and long wiry stems with star-shaped flowers. It usually prefers well-drained soil. The popular corn lily has specific, not very intense fragrance as vegetable

Vegetable

The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....

s. That is why it's often visited by many insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s such as bees. The Ixia are also used sometimes as ornamental plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

s.

The genus name is derived from the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 words ixias, meaning "the chameleon plant", and physis, meaning "bladder".

Species

The genus Ixia includes the following species:

• Ixia aurea J. C. Manning & Goldblatt
• Ixia acaulis Goldblatt & J. C. Manning
• Ixia brevituba G.J. Lewis
• Ixia brunneobractea G.J. Lewis
• Ixia campanulata Houtt.
• Ixia capillaris L. f.
• Ixia cochlearis G.J. Lewis
• Ixia collina Goldbl. & Snijman
• Ixia curta Andr
• Ixia curvata G.J. Lewis
• Ixia dubia Vent.
• Ixia erubescens Goldbl.
• Ixia esterhuyseniae De Vos
• Ixia flexuosa L.
• Ixia frederickii De Vos
• Ixia fucata
  • Ixia fucata Ker-Gawl, var. filifolia G.J. Lewis
  • Ixia fucata Ker-Gawl. var. fucata
• Ixia gloriosa G.J Lewis
• Ixia latifolia
  • Ixia latifolia Delaroche var. angustifolia G.J. Lewis
  • Ixia latifolia Delaroche var. curviramosa G.J. Lewis
  • Ixia latifolia Delaroche var. latifolia
  • Ixia latifolia Delaroche var. parviflora G.J. Lewis
  • Ixia latifolia Delaroche var. ramulosa G.J. Lewis
• Ixia leipoldtii G.J. Lewis
• Ixia leucantha Jacq.
• Ixia longituba N.E.Br.
  • Ixia longituba N. E. Br. var. bellendenii R. C. Foster
  • Ixia longituba N. E. Br. var. longituba
• Ixia lutea Eckl. var. lutea
• Ixia lutea Eckl. var. ovata (Andr.) B. Nord
• Ixia maculata
  Ixia maculata
  Ixia maculata is a species of flowering plant in the iris family known by the common name spotted African corn lily. It is native to South Africa, but it is grown widely as an ornamental plant. It can also be found growing wild as an introduced species in several areas, including Western Australia...
  
  
  • Ixia maculata L. var. fusco-citrina (Desf.ex DC) G.J. Lewis
  • Ixia maculata L. var. intermedia G.J. Lewis
  • Ixia maculata L. var. maculata
• Ixia marginifolia (Salisb) G.J Lewis
• Ixia metelerkampiae L. Bol.
• Ixia micranda
  • Ixia micranda Bak. var. confusa G.J Lewis
  • Ixia micranda Bak. var. micranda
  • Ixia micranda Bak. var. minor G.J Lewis
• Ixia monadelpha Delaroche
• Ixia mostertii De Vos
• Ixia odorata Ker-Gawl var. hesperanthoides G.J Lewis
• Ixia odorata Ker-Gawl var. odorata
• Ixia orientalis L.Bol.
• Ixia paniculata Delaroche
• Ixia patens
  • Ixia patensAit. var. linearifolia G.J Lewis
  • Ixia patens Ait var. patens
• Ixia pauciflora G.J Lewis
• Ixia polystachya
  • Ixia polystachya L. var. crassifolia G.J Lewis
  • Ixia polystachya L. var. lutea (Ker-Gawl) G.J Lewis
  • Ixia polystachya M. De Vos var. longistylus var. nova
  • Ixia polystachya L. var. polystachya
• Ixia pumilio Goldbl. & Snijman
• Ixia purpureorosea G. J Lewis
• Ixia rapunculoides
  • Ixia rapunculoides Del. var. flaccida G.J Lewis
  • Ixia rapuncuolides Del. var. namaquana (L.Bol.) G. J Lewis
  • Ixia rapunculoides Del. var. rapunculoides
  • Ixia rapunculoides Del. var. rigida G. J Lewis
  • Ixia rapunculoides Del. var. robusta G.J Lewis
  • Ixia rapunculoides Del. var subpendula G.J. Lewis
• Ixia rouxii G.J Lewis
• Ixia scillaris L. var. scillaris
• Ixia scillaris L. var. subundulata G.J Lewis
• Ixia splendida G.J. Lewis
• Ixia stohriae L. Bol.
• Ixia stolonifera G.J Lewis
• Ixia stricta (Eckl. ex Klatt) G. J Lewis
• Ixia tenuifolia Vahl.
• Ixia thomasiae Goldblo.
• Ixia trifolia G. J Lewis FP
• Ixia trinervata (Bak.) G. J Lewis
• Ixia vanzijliae L. Bol.
• Ixia versicolor G.J Lewis
• Ixia vinacea G. J Lewis
• Ixia viridiflora
  Ixia viridiflora
  Ixia viridiflora, also known as Turquoise Ixia, is a tall member of the genus Ixia. It comes from around the Tulbagh in South Africa, Cape Province. It has small corms under the ground.This corn lily is a very rare plant...
  
  Lam.
  • Ixia viridiflora Lam. var minor De Vos
  • Ixia viridiflora Lam. var viridflora Thunb.