sparaxis

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A genus of monocotylodonous plants, of the order Irideæ, and tribe Ixieæ. It is characterized by flowers with a short perianth-tube enlarged and bell-shaped above, unilateral erect stamens, and slender undivided recurved style-branches. The fruit is a membranous three-valved loculicidal capsule. There are 5 (or as some regard them 11) species, all natives of the Cape of Good Hope. They are bulbous plants with a slender stem bearing a few flat or sword-shaped erect or curving leaves, and handsome flowers, each solitary and sessile within a thin dry fringed spathe, marked with brown lines. They are valued as summer-flowering bulbs, and numerous low-growing varieties are in cultivation, especially of S. tricolor and S. grandiflora, of various colors from white to crimson, generally with a dark ceuter. The bulb of S. bulbifera is edible. See harlequin-flower.

Wiktionary

1. n. Any of several deciduous perennial herbs, of the genus Sparaxis, from South Africa

WordNet 3.0

1. n. deciduous perennial herbs of South Africa