Iridaceae is a family of plants in order Asparagales, taking its name from the irises. It has a nearly global distribution, with 69 accepted genera with a total of c. 2500 species. It includes a number of economically important cultivated plants, such as species of Freesia, Gladiolus, and Crocus, as well as the crop saffron.
Babiana ringens, the rat's tail, is a flowering plant endemic to Cape Province of South Africa. The foliage is long and erect with an inflorescence consisting of a sterile main stalk adapted for ornithophily, pollination by birds. The plant bears bright red, tubular flowers on side branches close to the ground. It is a perennial that grows in nutrient-poor sandy soil and flowers during the winter rains.
Babiana is a genus of geophytes in the family Iridaceae with 93 recognized species as of March 2022. The leaves consist of a stalk and a blade that are at an angle to each other. The leaf blades are entire, laterally flattened and pleated, and often hairy. Each individual flower is subtended by two hairy or smooth bracts that are green in most species. The outer bract is often the largest of the two. In most species the bracts have a dry, brown tip, but in a few species it is entirely green or entirely dry when flowering or the outer bract is translucent and has a papery texture. The inner bract is forked or split all the way to its base. Each flower is without a pedicel, with six tepals that are merged at their base into a tube and form a perianth that is mirror-symmetrical in most species, with three anthers implanted where the perianth tube widens and that are, in almost every species, clustered at one side of the style. The style has three branches that widen towards the tip and the ovary is inferior. Flowers occur in almost every conceivable colour, many have markings on some of the tepals, and few star-symmetrical flowers have a centre that strongly contrasts with the free part of the perianth. The majority of these species are endemic to the west and southwest of South Africa, and southwestern Namibia, but one species occurs elsewhere in Namibia and South Africa and another species can be found in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The genus name is derived from the Dutch word baviaan, referring to the Chacma baboon, Papio ursinus, that consumes the corms of plants in the genus. The genus is called bobbejaantjie in Afrikaans, meaning small baboon.
Aristea is a genus of evergreen, perennial and rhizomatous species of flowering plants in the family Iridaceae, first described in 1789. The genus is distributed in tropical and southern Africa, as well as Madagascar. The genus name is derived from the Greek word arista, meaning "awn".
Babiana stricta, the baboon flower or blue freesia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Iridaceae, native to Cape Province, South Africa and naturalized in Australia.
Crocoideae is one of the major subfamilies in the family Iridaceae.
Calydorea is a small genus of perennial, herbaceous and bulbous plants in the family Iridaceae native to Mexico and South America. The plants in the genus are small with tunicated bulbs. The flowers are light blue, violet, white, or yellow, depending on the species, of which there are around twenty. Taxonomists considered that the already known genera Salpingostylis, Cardiostigma, Catila and Itysa are not enough different from each other to justify their taxonomic segregation and, for this reason, all of them are now included in Calydorea.
Zygotritonia is a genus of herbaceous, perennial and bulbous plants in the family Iridaceae. It contains four species distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The genus name is derived from the word zygomorphic, and the apparent resemblance to some species in the genus Tritonia.
Klattia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Iridaceae first described as a genus in 1877. The entire genus is endemic to Cape Province in South Africa. The genus name is a tribute to the German botanist Friedrich Wilhelm Klatt, who significantly advanced the body of knowledge of the family Iridaceae in the 19th century.
Micranthus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Iridaceae. The entire genus is endemic to Cape Province in South Africa.
Pillansia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Iridaceae, first described as a genus in 1914. It contains only one known species, Pillansia templemannii, endemic to Cape Province in South Africa.
Thereianthus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Iridaceae, first described as a genus in 1941. The entire genus is endemic to Cape Province in South Africa.
Peter Goldblatt is a South African botanist, working principally in the United States.
Babiana villosa is a species of geophyte of 10–20 cm (3.9–7.9 in) high that is assigned to the family Iridaceae. It has mauve-pink, purple or scarlet star-symmetrical wide chalice-shaped flowers with narrow tube, large, blackish or dark purple anthers, and velvety hairy, lance-shaped, laterally compressed leaves, set in a fan. Flowers occur during August and September. It grows between Malmesbury and Wellington in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is commonly called red babiana in English and rooibobbejaantjie in Afrikaans.
Babiana hirsuta is a species of geophyte of 40–70 cm (16–28 in) high that is assigned to the family Iridaceae. It has many scarlet mirror-symmetrical flowers in a branched inflorescence with several short ascending branches. The flower has a narrow tube, and three large, blackish or dark purple anthers that extend beyond the dorsal tepal. The leaves are velvety hairy, lance-shaped, laterally compressed and set in a fan. It is an endemic species of South Africa that can be found along the west coast of the Northern and Western Cape provinces as far south as Saldanha. It is called red babiana in English, but that name is also applied to Babiana villosa, and strandlelie, sandlelie and rooihanekam in Afrikaans. Until 2008, the strandlelie was known as Babiana thunbergii.
Babiana tubiflora is a species of geophyte of 7–15 cm (2.8–5.9 in) high that is assigned to the family Iridaceae. It has whitish mirror-symmetrical flowers with a long narrow tube that split into six tepal lobes, have three stamens, and line- to lance-shaped, laterally compressed leaves. It is an endemic species of South Africa that can be found along the west and south coast of the Western Cape province. It flowers from August to early October.
Babiana virescens is a species of flowering plant from the family Iridaceae.
Babiana sambucina is a species of geophyte of 8–30 cm (3.1–11.8 in) high that is assigned to the family Iridaceae. It has dense spikes of blue to violet-coloured, often fragrant flowers. There are two subspecies, B. sambucina subsp. longibracteata is restricted to a small area in the Northern Cape, B. sambucina subsp. sambucina grows in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. Flowers are present in August and September.
Babiana mucronata is a perennial plant species that grows to about 5–18 cm (2.0–7.1 in) high and annually forms leaves and flowers from an underground corm. It is assigned to the iris family. It has a simple or branched, more or less upright spike of 3-12 dark to pale violet-blue, mirror-symmetrical flowers. Each flower consists of a perianth that is merged below into a funnel-shaped tube of 10–25 mm (0.39–0.98 in) long but splits into six unequal tepals. Three stamens are curved, crowded near the upper lip, and carry pale violet anthers. Flowers may be found between late July and September.
