sparaxis, noun

/spəˈræksɪs/
Forms:
Also with initial capital.
Plurals:
unchanged.
Origin:
modern Latin, GreekShow more modern Latin (1805), from Greek sparassein to tear, lacerate.
A genus of iridaceous plant, species of which are grown for their flowers, which are multi-hued, often with black or yellow centres; a plant or bulb of this genus; also called botterblom. See also ixia.
1829 Loudon Encycl. Pl.40.
1841 Duncan Hist. Guernsey 557The innumerable species of ixia, sparaxis, and other cognate genera of Cape bulbs.
1852 G.W. Johnson Cottage Gardeners’ Dict. 517The true Ixias are known from Sparaxis by not having, like it, a jagged sheath.
1856 R.E.E. Wilmot Diary (1984) 33I came suddenly upon a lustrous patch of Sparaxis pendula both purple and white and soon filled my hands with what I never hoped to see in flower again.
1856 R.E.E. Wilmot Diary (1984) 35A spacious hollow..clothed with damp ferns..and rich in bouquets of sparaxis.
1906 B. Stoneman Plants & their Ways 194Sparaxis. Perianth regular, with a short, funnel-shaped tube. Bracts papery, deeply fringed or lacerated.
1917 R. Marloth Dict. of Common Names of Plants 45Kalossie,..several species of Ixia...Wit — Sparaxis grandiflora var. Liliago.
1928 Jrnl of Botanical Soc. of S. Afr. XIV. 7Many of our ‘bulbous’ plants may be considered safely established in cultivation. The number is steadily increasing — more especially in the case of the family, Iridaceae, whose Sparaxis, Tritonia, Ixia, are acknowledged favourites.
1963 M.G. McCoy Informant, Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), Eastern CapeWe had a long walk in Settlers’ Park, all the Namaqualands are out, & the sparaxis & bobbejantjies.
1988 M. Branch Explore Cape Flora 14Botterblom sparaxis grows in marshy areas.
1989 Reader’s Digest Gardening Questions Answered 353Sparaxis. Brightly coloured, indigenous, spring flowering bulbs with narrow, stiff, sword-shaped leaves and stems of multicoloured, six-petalled flowers, often with black or yellow centres, in a wide range of colours. There are many hybrids.
1994 E. Prov. Herald 26 Mar. 9Sparaxis: Small, on thin stems, the bulbs produce multicoloured blooms.
1994 [see Wasserfall quot. at freesia].
A genus of iridaceous plant, species of which are grown for their flowers, which are multi-hued, often with black or yellow centres; a plant or bulb of this genus; also called botterblom.
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Latin
Greek
spanspek, sponspek, nounn.Sparm, nounn.
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