Freesia leichtlinii subsp. alba
Introduction
With its showy white spring flowers, exquisite perfume and relative ease in cultivation, Freesia leichtlinii subsp. alba is one of the most rewarding Cape bulbs to grow. It was previously known as Freesia alba.
Description
Description
Freesia leichtlinii subsp. alba is a geophyte, i.e. a plant that produces underground buds (bulbs, corms, tubers or rhizomes). In this case, the underground part is a corm, conical in shape, about 10 mm wide at the base, and covered with tunics of finely netted fibres. Freesia leichtlinii subsp. alba is deciduous; growing in autumn to winter, flowering in spring and dormant in summer. Several leaves are produced, they are usually inclined or nearly upright, and are sword-shaped, tapering to a sharp point. The leaves and flowering stem are roughly the same height, 200-500 mm.
The flowers are produced in a horizontally bent, 2-9-flowered spike from mid-winter until spring (late July to early October). They are white, often with a purple flush on the outside, sometimes with a yellow mark on the lowest tepal, and have the strongest and sweetest fragrance of all the freesias, that includes the wild species and the hybrids. The flowers are broadly funnel-shaped, 20-40 mm long. The fruit is a lightly warty capsule of hard, rounded, shiny seeds.
The corms of Freesia leichtlinii are usually deeply buried, and it is the only species that produces cormels in the axils of the lower leaves along the underground portion of the stem, as well as at the base of the parent corm. Other freesias only produce cormels at the base of the parent corm. Also, the basal cormels of Freesia leichtlinii are almost the same size as the parent, whereas in the other species they are significantly smaller.
The previous definition of Freesia alba included the new species F. praecox, defined in 2010, which occurs at the foot of the Riviersonderend Mountains and grows in loamy soils in sandstone outcrops. It flowers a few months earlier than Freesia leichtlinii subsp. alba and does not produce cormels in its leaf axils.
Conservation Status
Status
Near Threatened (NT). Although still fairly common with an estimated 20-30 wild locations remaining, Freesia leichtlinii subsp. alba occurs over a relatively small area and the wild population is declining due to ongoing coastal development and unmanaged invasive alien plants, which are damaging and destroying its habitat.
Distribution and habitat
Distribution description
Freesia leichtlinii subsp. alba is a coastal species found growing in coarse sandy soils, derived from sandstone or in limestone, usually in stony situations and often in crevices in rocky outcrops, or in light shade along the margins of dune scrub or forest edges, along the southern coast in the Western Cape, from Still Bay to Plettenberg Bay. South of Riversdale they grow in deep, lime-enriched sands, among shrubs or restios.
Derivation of name and historical aspects
History
The genus Freesia is named after F.H.T. Freese (died 1876), a German physician from Kiel and a pupil of Ecklon. This species is named for Max Leichtlin (1831-1910), a German horticulturist and plant collector who got plants from the Botanic Gardens at Padua in Italy, how they got there is a mystery, but he spotted them, grew them and distributed material widely. The subspecific name alba means white in Latin, referring to the white flowers. Freesia alba was first described in 1881 by G.L.Meyer, and became well known in Europe, as F. refracta var. alba. Gumbleton recognized Freesia alba as a distinct species in 1896. Manning and Goldblatt reduced F. alba to subspecific rank under F. leichtlinii in the 2010 revision, because it differs from F. leichtlinii only in having white flowers instead of pale yellow or creamy flowers.
Freesia belongs in the large and very diverse Iris Family (Iridaceae), a family of about 65 genera and almost 2000 species distributed all over the world. Africa south of the Equator is home to the greatest concentration of species, 46 genera occur here, including many well-known ornamentals, e.g. Gladiolus, Sparaxis, Tritonia, Moraea, Watsonia, Ixia, Crocosmia, Babiana, Dierama and of course, Freesia.
Freesia is endemic to southern Africa and is one of the smaller African genera in the family, consisting of 16 species of which 4 have subspecies recognized: Freesia andersoniae, F. caryophyllacea, F. corymbosa, F. fergusoniae, F. fucata, F. grandiflora subsp. grandiflora, F. grandiflora subsp. occulta, F. laxa subsp laxa, F. laxa subsp. azurea, F. leichtlinii subsp. leichtlinii, F. leichtlinii subsp. alba, F. marginata, F. occidentalis, F. refracta, F. praecox, F. sparrmanii, F. speciosa, F. verrucosa and F. viridis subsp viridis, F. viridis subsp. crispifolia. The genus was revised in 1935 by N.E. Brown and again in 1982 by Goldblatt. Goldblatt who reduced the 19 species defined by Brown to 11. Goldblatt and Manning sunk the genus Anomatheca into Freesia in 1995 when molecular studies confirmed that flower shape is not necessarily a good indicator of genetic relationships. The most recent revision by Manning and Goldblatt was completed in 2010 and includes two new species and two new combinations.
Freesia has a rather complicated and confusing history with lots of wrong names, misapplication of names and synonymy-for the full version see the 1982 revision by Peter Goldblatt. The first two species that were cultivated in Europe in 1766, were both placed in different genera viz. F. corymbosa was thought to be a Gladiolus and F. caryophyllacea was thought to be an Ixia. Freesia refracta arrived there in 1795 and was also thought to be a Gladiolus. Freesia sparrmannii was collected in 1770 and described in 1814, also as a Gladiolus, and the fifth species was called Gladiolus xanthospila but this one has never been related to any wild plant and is thought to be a form of F. caryophyllacea. Ecklon, Zeyher and Drege, all active in the early 1800s, sent back several species including F. sparrmannii, F. refracta, F. corymbosa, F. leichtlinii and F. andersoniae. It was only in 1866 that Freesia was described as a distinct genus.
None of the early collections were widely grown, nor were they used in breeding experiments, furthermore they probably did not persist in cultivation and were grown only by collectors. It was only when yellow-flowered plants of F. leichtlinii subsp. leichtlinii were discovered by Max Leichtlin in 1874 that Freesia entered the world of horticulture. F. leichtlinii was repeatedly figured in horticultural journals in the following decade and was evidently a popular ornamental pot plant available in the nursery trade.
There is no record of how it got there, but Freesia leichtlinii subsp. alba first appeared in the English nursery trade in 1878 and quickly spread to Europe and North America. It appears to have caused quite a sensation, and appeared in almost every horticultural publication of note in both Europe and America in the years following its introduction. Breeding began immediately after F. leichtlinii subsp alba appeared on the market and continues to this day. Today there are hundreds of hybrids and varieties in any imaginable colour and over 110 million stems are sold as cutflowers in the United Kingdom every year. Most of these hybrids are derived from F. leichtlinii subsp alba, F. leichtlinii subsp. leichtlinii, a rose pink form of F. corymbosa known then as F. armstrongii, and a deep yellow form of F. corymbosa known then as F. aurea.
Ecology
Ecology
Freesia leichtlinii subsp. alba is mostly pollinated by solitary bees. In habitat it is often found growing wedged amongst rocks, where the corms are protected from the creatures that would otherwise eat them.
Freesia leichtlinii has naturalized in the winter-rainfall parts of Australia, in southwestern Western Australia, southern South Australia, around Sydney in New South Wales, and in southern Victoria, and in France, north of Nice.
Growing Freesia leichtlinii subsp. alba
Grow
Although wild freesias are not as easy to grow as their myriad of hybrid relatives now available for sale at garden centres throughout the world, Freesia leichtlinii subsp. alba is nevertheless one of the easiest Cape bulbs to grow. It makes a wonderful pot plant that can be enjoyed on a sunny patio, or sunk into the garden during its growing season or just for spring and removed and stored dry during summer, or it can be grown permanently outdoors in pockets of the rock garden. Freesia leichtlinii subsp. alba is frost tender to half hardy (USDA zone 9) and thus needs protection in very cold climates.
When growing Cape bulbs like Freesia leichtlinii subsp. alba it is wise to follow these guidelines: use an acid, sandy (well-drained) growing medium, e.g. 3 parts medium-grained river sand to 1 part fine acid compost or finely milled acid bark. Use 15 to 20 cm pots, and plant the corms at a depth of approx. 3 times the height of the corm, in autumn. Place the pots in a well-ventilated, sunny spot, preferably one that receives morning sun and afternoon shade and water them thoroughly every seven to ten days. Take note that overwatering, particularly of container-grown species, will soon lead to rotting. As the temperatures start to rise again towards the end of spring and the plants start to go dormant (indicated by a yellowing of the leaves), stop watering completely and let the growing medium dry out completely.
Store the containers in a cool dry place during summer. If you wish to grow them in a permanent spot in the garden, choose a mole-proof rockery or sink a wire basket and plant them in the basket, and choose a spot that gets as little water in summer as possible, although Freesia leichtlinii subsp. alba tolerates the summer watering it receives in the Fragrance Garden at Kirstenbosch.
Propagate Freesia leichtlinii subsp. alba by seed sown in autumn. Fresh seed germinates readily in 4 to 5 weeks. Some plants flower in their second season, most in their third. They also reproduce by cormels. Freesia leichtlinii subsp. alba is free-flowering, sets seed freely and seeds itself pretty freely too, and, with the production of cormels, a pot will be filled with plants in 2 to 3 years. Clumps are best lifted and divided every three years.
Thrips and aphids can cause extensive damage to leaves, and aphids can transmit viral diseases to which freesias are very susceptible. Slugs and snails can also damage the leaves, and a fungal dry rot attacks the corms.
References
- Du Plessis, N. & Duncan, G. 1989. Bulbous plants of southern Africa, a guide to their cultivation and propagation. Tafelberg, Cape Town.
- Duncan, G.D. 2000. Grow bulbs. Kirstenbosch Gardening Series. National Botanical Institute, Cape Town.
- Germishuizen, G. & Meyer, N.L. (eds) 2003. Plants of southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
- Goldblatt, P. 1982. Systematics of Freesia Klatt (Iridaceae). Journal of South African Botany 48:39-91.
- Jackson, W.P.U. 1990. Origins and meanings of names of South African plant genera. University of Cape Town Printing Department, Cape Town.
- Jeppe, B. & Duncan, G.D. 1989. Spring and winter flowering bulbs of the Cape. Oxford University Press, Cape Town.
- Manning, J., Goldblatt, P. & Snijman, D. 2002. The color encyclopedia of Cape bulbs. Timber Press, Cambridge.
- Manning, J.C. & Goldblatt, P. 2010. Botany and horticulture of the genus Freesia (Iridaceae). Strelitzia 27. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria.
- Von Staden, L. 2012. Freesia leichtlinii Klatt subsp. alba (G.L.Mey.) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version 2014.1. Accessed on 2015/04/23.
Credits
Alice Notten
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
August 2004
Updated April 2015
Plant Attributes:
Plant Type: Bulb
SA Distribution: Western Cape
Soil type: Sandy
Flowering season: Spring, Winter
PH: Acid
Flower colour: White
Aspect: Full Sun, Morning Sun (Semi Shade)
Gardening skill: Easy
Special Features:
Fragrant
Good potplant
Horticultural zones
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