It is always exciting when new species are discovered, or, old ones, once lost are re-found.
Ixia pumilio was found in 1983 in a farm in South Africa as mentioned again below.
The word "pumilio" means= little or small.
Plants grow in damp places in deep sandy soils.
Flower color is brick-red with conspicuous veins as you will see in my photos included with this article.
It is an unusual species but beautiful with its own charm.
It is very easy to grow and I started mine from seed obtained from South Africa. It flowers well every year and does not mind the frosts here in Gippsland or the wet winters.
Subgenus ixia: Section Morphixia Ixia pumilio Goldblatt & Snijman, sp. Nov. - South Africa, Cape, banks of the Breede River, TYPE. - South of Worcester, Snijman 737
Plants 100~150(-250) mm high.
Corm 7-12 mm in diameter, globose to ovoid, tunics light brown, the layers unbroken or becoming finely fibrous. Basal
sheaths usually 2, membranous, brownish above ground.
Leaves 3-4, linear, 2-5 mm wide, loosely twisted, reaching to about the base of the spike, all basal, the uppermost sheathing for most of its length.
Stem erect, simple or sometimes with 1-3 short branches.
Spike straight (when alive) -10-flowered; bracts 7 - 9 mm long, membranous and opaque, light brown when dry, with brown to purple veins, the outer larger with several veins including a large median vein, the apex truncate or shortly 1 or 3 cuspid, the inner with two veins and bicuspidate.
Flower old rose, actinomorphic with conspicuous darker veins; perianth tube 8 - 10 mm long, infundibuliform, narrow and filiform below for 5 mm, widening above to ca. 5 mm; tepals more or less ovate, 11-13(-16) mm long, obtuse.
Filaments 5-7 mm long, erect, contiguous, inserted in upper part of tube, asserted for 3-4 mm.
Anthers erect, 4 mm long, yellow.
Ovary globose, 2 mm long., style filiform, erect, dividing near the middle part of the anthers, the three branches recurved, channelled, stigmatic along the margins in the distal part.
Fruit globose-oblong, 4-6 mm long, ca. 4 mm in diameter, surface rugose, the outline of the seeds visible.
Chromosome number 2n = 20 (Snijman 737).
Flowering time: Mid-August to mid-September.
Distribution: Alluvials and on the banks of the Breede River, south of Worcester. =====================================================
Ixia pumilio is a member of section Morphixia, the basic section of the genus, and it has the relatively short, funnel-shaped perianth tube that defines the section, as well as filaments inserted well below the mouth of the tube.
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