Sparaxis is a genus in the Iridaceae family that is endemic to South Africa and found mostly in the southwestern Cape and the western Karoo. They are easy to grow in Mediterranean climates. They have been in cultivation for a number of years and there are many colorful hybrids grown as well. The genus Synnotia is now included in this genus. Sparaxis can become virused. Plants may continue to bloom, but there can be a color break in the petals. There are photos on our wiki Virus page that illustrate this problem. Sparaxis hybridize easily in the garden. Illustrations of hybrids can be found on our Sparaxis Hybrids wiki page.
Sparaxis bulbifera is white and has numerous cormels that grow in the stems. It has stems that are often branched. It is found on wet sandy or limestone flats. Photos by Bob Rutemoeller.
Pictures taken September 2006 in the West Coast area of South Africa on the way to Darling by Mary Sue Ittner and Bob Rutemoeller. The first population we saw blooming in mass had white flowers and the second population had flowers that were yellow and white.
Sparaxis elegans a plant found on clay flats has salmon or white flowers with a purple cup edged in black and yellow and coiled purple anthers. The first two photos were taken by Bob Rutemoeller and the third by Paul Tyerman.
Seen blooming near Nieuwoudtville September 2006, the first five pictures below were taken by Bob Rutemoeller and Mary Sue Ittner. They show a number of them blooming next to the road with close-ups showing a pollinator and the detail of the flowers. The next to the last picture shows a plant with different coloring in the same population and the last shows a group mixed with Geissorhiza splendidissima blooming at the same time. The last picture of a rare white form was taken by Ragnhild Crawford near Papkuilsfontein in September 2006.
Sparaxis grandiflora is a species of the Northwestern and Southwestern Cape with four subspecies recognized. It is usually found on clay flats and slopes.
Sparaxis grandiflora ssp. acutiloba is bright yellow, sometimes with dark markings. The tepals are acute. This species is found in the Olifants River Valley. Photo by Bob Rutemoeller of a garden ground plant that has been difficult to maintain and of one taken by Mary Sue Ittner in habitat in South Africa in September 2006.
Sparaxis grandiflora ssp. fimbriata has cream to white flowers with tepals rounded at the tips and is found in the southwest Cape. The first photo by Mary Sue Ittner is of a cultivated plant and the next photos were taken September 2006 at Lion's Head in the southwest Cape by Bob Rutemoeller and Mary Sue Ittner.
Sparaxis grandiflora ssp. grandiflora had deep plum red flowers with tepals that are rounded at the tips and is found in the Tulbagh Valley. Photos one and two were taken by Mark Mazer and Bob Werra. The last picture taken near Tulbagh by Bob Rutemoeller in August 2006 was taken the same day that Babiana villosa and Geissorhiza inflexa were blooming in the same area. Since they all three are similar one wonders if they share the same pollinator.
Sparaxis grandiflora ssp. violacea has cream to violet flowers with purple markings with spoon shaped tepals and is found in the Southwest Cape. The first photo below was taken by Mary Sue Ittner and the second by Kristina Van Wert from the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens collection.
Sparaxis metelerkampiae (syn. Synnotia metelerkampiae, Synnotia variegata ssp. meterlerkampiae) is found on rocky sandstone slopes and has trumpet-shaped flowers that are purple with white marks on the lower tepals. Anthers are purple. Photo by Bob Rutemoeller of a garden plant and one taken by Mary Sue Ittner near Clanwilliam, South Africa, September 2006.
Sparaxis parviflora (syn. Synnotia parviflora) grows on granite slopes and rocks in the Southwest Cape. It has small cream and yellow flowers flushed with purple. Photo by Mary Sue Ittner.
Sparaxis maculosa is found on clay slopes in renosterveld in the southwest Cape. Plants have one to three yellow flowers with a dark maroon-black center. Photo taken in the display area of Kirstenbosch by Mary Sue Ittner August 2006.
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Sparaxis roxburghii (syn. Synnotia roxburghii) grows on rocky sandstone slopes in the Olifants River Valley. It has mauve to lilac flowers with yellow on the lower tepals. It is described as having zygomorphic, mauve to lilac and yellow flowers with the lower tepals yellow in lower half to two thirds. The perianth tube is obliquely funnel-shaped, 20-30 mm long. It is distinguished by its long-tubed flowers and the finely fibrous corm tunics that extend upwards in a neck around the leaf bases.
Sparaxis tricolor has orange scarlet flowers with a yellow center edged with black. It grows on damp clay and stony soils in renosterveld in the northwest Cape and blooms in spring. It is one of the species used in hybridizing. The first photo was taken by Mary Sue Ittner and the second by Arnold Trachtenberg at Wave Hill where it was growing. The last three photos taken by Mary Sue Ittner and Bob Rutemoeller are of plants seen flowering in Nieuwoudtville September 2006. Photos include a close-up with a beetle pollinator and the last shown with Lapeirousia jacquinii
Sparaxis variegata (syn. Synnotia variegata) has trumpet shaped violet flowers with a long bent tube with white and/or yellow markings on the lower tepals with purple tips markings at the tips or margins. Anthers are whitish. It grows on rocky sandstone slopes in the northwest Cape and blooms late winter-early spring. The first two photos were taken in the Karoo Desert NBGin August 2006 by Bob Rutemoeller and Mary Sue Ittner. There was a color break in the flowers. Could they be virused? The last photo below was taken by Bob Rutemoeller of plants grown by Rachel Saunders and Rod Saunders in South Africa (blooming September 2003.) This picture has previously been identified on the wiki as Sparaxis variegata and then was changed to be S. roxburghii, but now John Manning has confirmed that the original identification was accurate.
Sparaxis villosa (syn. Synnotia villosa) is found growing on clay and granite slopes in the northwest and southwest Cape. It has small cream to yellow flowers. The hooded top segment is flushed violet. Photos by Bob Rutemoeller and Mary Sue Ittner.
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