Freesia refracta

Freesia refracta, commonly known in Afrikaans as the Klein Karoo kammetjie (Little Karoo little comb), is a cormous perennial that reaches heights from 18 cm to 45 cm in flower. The corm is ovoid and bulb-like, its tunic pale and fibrous. A few basal bulbils are borne.

The sword-shaped leaves ending in acutely pointed tips grow from the corm in an erect, green fan. There may be up to 10 leaves in every year’s fan growth.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from Worcester eastwards to Gouritz River Mouth and through the Little Karoo as far as De Rust. The photo was taken at Minwater near Oudtshoorn.

The habitat is semi-arid, stony places covered in karoid scrub or renosterveld. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).