Gelasine is a cormous genus in the Iridaceae family native to South America. It produces short lived flowers, but there can be many over a long period if not allowed to set seed. They are not supposed to be very hardy.
Gelasine elongata (syn. Gelasine azurea) is from southern Brazil and Uruguay and is found in grasslands to 100 meters. It has bright-blue or violet flowers that open in the morning and flowers in the summer. Although it is advised to treat this one like a Tigridia having it be hot and moist in summer and dryish in winter, I have found it can be grown on a Mediterranean cycle and given summer water. It stays evergreen for me treated this way and seems to do best in the ground, not a container. The first two photos by Bob Rutemoeller and the third from Bill Dijk.
Gelasine uruguaiensis ssp. orientalis is a rare plant from Uruguay. It is found in a region of Uruguay that is rather warm with many slights frosts in winter. It is an autumn/winter/spring grower and summer dormant. This one bloomed only briefly in May and is being grown in a pot in California. It must have made its way with other seed from Bill Dijk who grows it in New Zealand. Photo by Bob Rutemoeller.
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