This flower fascinates me. Yesterday it looked like seed heads at the top of a long stalk, today when I went to take a picture these flowers have opened. I love the purple center!
I have now identified these flowers! They are called Ixia viridiflora. Here is the info I found on Wikipedia:
Ixia viridiflora, also known as Turquoise Ixia, is a tall member of the genus Ixia. It comes from around the Tulbagh in South Africa, Cape Province. It has small corms under the ground.
This corn lily is a very rare plant. Its habitats are often destroyed by human influence so the conservation status of this interesting flower is vulnerable and is tending to worse.
The plant gets the name "Turquoise Ixia" from the really spectacular blue-green turquoise colour of the flowers, which is a rare colour for flowers. They are grouped in long inflorescences and are traditionally star-shaped like in most corn lilies. They have a black-purple centre. The ovary is 3-locular. This flower is pollinated by specific scarab beetles known as monkey beetles of the tribe Hopliini.
The Turquoise Ixia has very good ornamental traits with its beautiful inflorescences but is very rare in cultivation because of its conservation status.
I'm from Tulbagh, Western Cape, South Africa. Tulbagh is a small farming community.
Get Pushed Challenge: I have been doing this challenge on and off...
So pretty! And so interesting with what I presume are unopened buds at the top. Don't think I've ever seen these - but then again, it's only recently that I've started looking at flowers in a different way (thanks to 365!)
@summerfield Indeed, I have a whole lot of pots at one end of the swimming pool and they pop up in one of them every year. This year is the first time that I noticed flowers, previously I only saw what appeared to be seed heads. Guess I should take more notice of what is going on in my garden!
