''Crocosmia'' (), also known as montbretia (), is a small

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of flowering plants in the iris

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Iridaceae Iridaceae () is a family of plants in order Asparagales, taking its name from the Iris (plant), irises. It has a nearly global distribution, with 69 accepted genera with a total of about 2500 species. It includes a number of economically importan ...

. It is native to the

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

s of southern and eastern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, ranging from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. One species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

Description

They can be

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

s that grow from basal underground corms. The alternate leaves are cauline (stem-borne) and 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

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s of 4 to 20 vivid red and orange alternate flowers on a horizontally divaricate (branched) stem. The terminal inflorescence can have the form of a cyme or a

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

. These flower from early summer well into autumn. The flowers are sessile on a flexuose (zigzag) arched spike. The fertile flowers are hermaphroditic. All

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s have an equal length. The

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branches are apically forked. They are pollinated by insects, birds ( sunbirds) or by the wind. The

dehiscent Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part. Structures that op ...

capsules are shorter than they are wide. The genus name is derived from the Greek words ''krokos'', meaning "saffron", and ''osme'', meaning "odour" – from the dried leaves emitting a strong smell like that of saffron (a spice derived from ''

Crocus ''Crocus'' (; plural: crocuses or croci) is a genus of seasonal flowering plants in the family Iridaceae (iris family) comprising about 100 species of perennial plant, perennials growing from corms. They are low growing plants, whose flower stem ...

'' – another genus belonging to the Iridaceae) when immersed in hot water. The alternative name montbretia is still widely used, especially for the garden hybrid ''C.'' × ''crocosmiiflora''. "Montbretia" is commonly used in the British Isles for orange-flowered ''C.'' × ''crocosmiiflora''

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s that have naturalised, while "crocosmia" is reserved for less aggressive red-flowered cultivars. ''Montbretia'' is also a

heterotypic synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently ...

of the genus '' Tritonia'', in which some species of ''Crocosmia'' were once included. It was named by Alire Raffeneau Delile for , a fellow French botanist on Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign.

Species

Species accepted by Kew Plants of the World Online: * '' Crocosmia ambongensis'' ( H.Perrier) Goldblatt & J.C.Manning – Madagascar * '' Crocosmia aurea'' ( Pappe ex Hook.) Planch. (Falling Stars) – eastern + southern Africa from Cape Province to Sudan; naturalised in Azores * ''Crocosmia'' × ''crocosmiiflora'' ( Lemoine) 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'' ( Lindl.) M.P.de Vos – Kamiesberg Mountains in Cape Province of South Africa * '' Crocosmia masoniorum'' ( 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'' ( Klatt) Goldblatt (Aunt Eliza) – Lesotho, Eswatini, South Africa * '' Crocosmia pearsei'' Oberm. – Lesotho, Free State, Drakensberg Mountains in Mpumalanga * '' Crocosmia pottsii'' ( Baker) N.E.Br. (Pott's montbretia) – Cape Province, KwaZulu-Natal

Garden hybrids

* ''Crocosmia'' × ''crocosmiiflora''

Cultivation

Crocosmias are grown worldwide, and more than 400 cultivars have been produced. Some hybrids have become invasive, especially ''C.'' × ''crocosmiiflora'' hybrids, which are invasive in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, and the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast and the Western Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the Contiguous United States, contig ...

. Crocosmia are winter-hardy in temperate regions. They can be propagated through division, removing offsets from the

corm Corm, bulbo-tuber, or bulbotuber is a short, vertical, swollen, underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ that some plants use to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat (perennation). The word ''c ...

in spring. 24 cultivars possessed the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

in 2023, including: * ''Crocosmia'' × ''crocosmiiflora'' 'Carmin Brillant' * ''Crocosmia'' × ''crocosmiiflora'' 'Star of the East' * ''Crocosmia'' 'Hellfire' * ''Crocosmia'' 'Lucifer' * ''Crocosmia'' 'Paul's Best Yellow' * ''Crocosmia'' 'Severn Sunrise'

Gallery

File: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

Notes

References

External links

* 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. {{Authority control Garden plants Iridaceae Iridaceae genera Flora of the Afrotropical realm