Montbretia

''Crocosmia'' (;), also known as montbretia, is a small genus of flowering plants in the iris family (biology), family, Iridaceae. It is native plant, native to the grasslands of southern and eastern Africa, ranging from South Africa to Sudan. One species is endemic to Madagascar.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
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Description

They can be evergreen or deciduous perennial plant, perennials that grow from basal underground corms. The alternate leaves are leaf shape, cauline and leaf shape, ensiform (sword shaped). The blades are parallel-veined. The margin is entire. The corms form in vertical chains with the youngest at the top and oldest and largest buried most deeply in the soil. The roots of the lowermost corm in a chain are contractile roots and drag the corm deeper into the ground where conditions allow. The chains of corms are fragile and easily separated, a quality that has enabled some species to become invasive and difficult to control in the garden.

They have colourful inflorescences of 4 to 20 vivid red and orange subopposite flowers on a divaricately (horizontally) branched stem. The terminal inflorescence can have the form of a Cyme (botany), cyme or a raceme. These flower from early summer well into fall. The flowers are sessile on a flexuose arched Spike (botany), spike. The fertile flowers are hermaphrodite, hermaphroditic. All stamens have an equal length. The carpel, style branches are apically forked. They are pollination, pollinated by insects, birds (sunbirds) or by the wind. The dehiscent capsule (fruit), capsules are shorter than they are wide.

The alternative name montbretia is still widely used. The genus name is derived from the Greek words ''krokos'', meaning "saffron", and ''osme'', meaning "odor" – from the dried leaves emitting a strong smell like that of saffron (a spice derived from ''Crocus'' – another genus belonging to the Iridaceae) – when immersed in hot water.

Species

Species accepted by World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
* ''Crocosmia ambongensis'' (Joseph Marie Henry Alfred Perrier de la Bâthie, H.Perrier) Peter Goldblatt, Goldblatt & – Madagascar
* ''Crocosmia aurea'' (Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Pappe, Pappe ex William Jackson Hooker, Hook.) Jules Émile Planchon, Planch. (Falling Stars) – eastern + southern Africa from Cape Province to Sudan; naturalised in Azores
* ''Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora'' (Victor Lemoine, Lemoine) N. E. Brown, N.E.Br. - South Africa; naturalised in parts of Europe, Rwanda, Zaire, Assam, Norfolk Island in Australia, Fiji, the Caribbean, Argentina, Tristan da Cunha ''(C. aurea × C. pottsii)''
* ''Crocosmia fucata'' (John Lindley, Lindl.) Miriam Phoebe de Vos, M.P.de Vos – Kamiesberg Mountains in Cape Province of South Africa
* ''Crocosmia masoniorum'' (Louisa Bolus, L.Bolus) N.E.Br. (Giant montbretia) – Cape Province, KwaZulu-Natal
* ''Crocosmia mathewsiana'' (L.Bolus) Goldblatt ex M.P.de Vos – Drakensberg Mountains in Mpumalanga
* ''Crocosmia paniculata'' (Friedrich Wilhelm Klatt, Klatt) Goldblatt (Aunt Eliza) – Lesotho, Eswatini, South Africa
* ''Crocosmia pearsei'' Anna Amelia Obermeyer, Oberm. – Lesotho, Free State, Drakensberg Mountains in Mpumalanga
* ''Crocosmia pottsii'' (John Gilbert Baker, Baker) N.E.Br. (Pott's montbretia) – Cape Province, KwaZulu-Natal

Garden hybrids

* Crocosmia × curtonus, ''Crocosmia'' × ''curtonus''
* Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora, ''Crocosmia'' × ''crocosmiiflora''

Cultivation

Crocosmias are grown worldwide, and more than 400 cultivars have been produced. Some hybrids have become invasive species, invasive, especially ''C. ''×'' crocosmiiflora'' hybrids, which are invasive in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand,
North Carolina, and the West Coast of the United States.

Crocosmia are winter-hardy in Temperate climate, temperate regions. They can be Plant propagation, propagated through Division (horticulture), division, removing offset (botany), offsets from the corm in spring.

The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:

*''Crocosmia'' 'Hellfire'
* ''Crocosmia'' 'Lucifer'
* ''Crocosmia masoniorum''

*''Crocosmia'' 'Paul's Best Yellow'
* ''Crocosmia'' 'Severn Sunrise'
*''Crocosmia'' × ''crocosmiiflora'' 'Babylon'

* ''Crocosmia'' × ''crocosmiiflora'' 'Star of the East'

Other cultivars include:
* ''Crocosmia curtonus'' 'Lucifer', scarlet

Gallery

Image:Crocosmia corm 8649.jpg, ''Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora'' corms in winter
File:Crocosmia lucifer.jpg, Close-up of ''Crocosmia'' 'Lucifer' in bloom
File:Aa montbretia.jpg, Montbretia, south Manchester, England

References

External links

* Miriam Phoebe de Vos, De Vos, M. P. (1999) "''Crocosmia''". ''Flora of Southern Africa'' 7: 129-138.
* Peter Goldblatt, John Manning, Gary Dunlop, Auriol Batten - ''Crocosmia and Chasmanthe'' (Royal Horticultural Society Plant Collector Guide)
* Kostelijk, P.J. (1984) "''Crocosmia'' in gardens". ''The Plantsman'' 5: 246-253.

{{Taxonbar, from=Q158670

Iridaceae genera
Iridaceae
Garden plants
Flora of Africa