Crocosmia

Crocosmia
Crocosmia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Iridaceae
Subfamily:	Ixioideae
Tribe:	Ixieae
Genus:	Crocosmia Planch.
Type species
Crocosmia aurea (Pappe ex Hook.f.) Planch.
Synonyms[1]
Crocanthus Klotzsch ex Klatt name published without description Curtonus N.E.Br.

Crocosmia (/krəˈkɒzmiə, kroʊ-/;^[2][3] J. E. Planchon, 1851)^[4] (montbretia)^[5] is a small genus of flowering plants in the iris family, Iridaceae. It is native to the grasslands of southern and eastern Africa, ranging from South Africa to Sudan. One species is endemic to Madagascar.^[1]

They can be evergreen or deciduous perennials that grow from basal underground corms. The alternate leaves are cauline and ensiform (sword shaped). The blades are parallel-veined. The margin is entire. The corms are unusual in forming 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 or a raceme. These flower from early summer well into fall. The flowers are sessile on a flexuose arched spike. The fertile flowers are hermaphroditic. All stamens have an equal length. The style branches are apically forked. They are pollinated by insects, birds (hummingbirds) or by the wind. The dehiscent capsules are shorter than they are wide.

They are commonly known in the United States as coppertips or falling stars, and in the United Kingdom as montbretia. Other names, for hybrids and cultivars, include antholyza, and curtonus. 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.^[6]

Cultivation

Crocosmias are grown worldwide, and more than 400 cultivars have been produced. Some hybrids have become invasive species, especially C. × crocosmiiflora hybrids, which are invasive in the UK, New Zealand, the American Pacific Northwest, and probably elsewhere.

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

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

'Lucifer'[7] C. masoniorum[8] C. masoniorum 'Rowallane yellow'[9]       'Severn Sunrise'[10]

C. × crocosmiiflora 'Carmin brilliant'[11] C. × crocosmiiflora 'Solfatare'[12] C. × crocosmiiflora 'Star of the East'[13]

• 

  Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora corms in winter

• 

  Close-up of Crocosmia lucifer in bloom

• 

  Montbretia, south Manchester, England

Species

Species accepted by World Checklist of Selected Plant Families^[1]

1. Crocosmia ambongensis (H. Perrier) Goldblatt & J. C. Manning – Madagascar
2. Crocosmia aurea (Pappe ex Hook.) Planch. (Falling Stars) – eastern + southern Africa from Cape Province to Sudan; naturalised in Azores
3. 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)
4. Crocosmia fucata (Lindl.) M. P. de Vos – Kamiesberg Mountains in Cape Province of South Africa
5. Crocosmia masoniorum (L. Bolus) N.E.Br. (Giant montbretia) – Cape Province, KwaZulu-Natal
6. Crocosmia mathewsiana (L. Bolus) Goldblatt ex M. P. de Vos – Drakensberg Mountains in Mpumalanga
7. Crocosmia paniculata (Klatt) Goldblatt (Aunt Eliza) – Lesotho, Swaziland, South Africa
8. Crocosmia pearsei Oberm. – Lesotho, Free State, Drakensberg Mountains in Mpumalanga
9. Crocosmia pottsii (Baker) N.E.Br. (Pott's montbretia) – Cape Province, KwaZulu-Natal

Garden hybrids

• Crocosmia × curtonus^[14]
• Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora

Cultivars

• 'Lucifer' (Crocosmia curtonus) scarlet

References

1. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
2. "Crocosmia". Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
3. "Crocosmia". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
4. Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607
5. RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. p. 1136. ISBN 1405332964.
6. Manning, John; Goldblatt, Peter (2008). The Iris Family: Natural History & Classification. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. pp. 144–47. ISBN 0-88192-897-6.
7. "RHS Plant Selector - Crocosmia 'Lucifer'". Retrieved 17 June 2013.
8. "RHS Plant Selector - Crocosmia masoniorum". Retrieved 17 June 2013.
9. "RHS Plant Selector - Crocosmia masoniorum 'Rowallane Yellow'". Retrieved 17 June 2013.
10. "RHS Plant Selector - Crocosmia 'Severn Sunrise'". Retrieved 17 June 2013.
11. "RHS Plant Selector - Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora 'Carmin brillant'". Retrieved 17 June 2013.
12. "RHS Plant Selector - Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora 'Solfatare'". Retrieved 17 June 2013.
13. "RHS Plant Selector - Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora 'Solfatare'". Retrieved 17 June 2013.
14. Missouri Botanical Gardens

• 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.