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Ixia

Genus of flowering plants

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
3 min read
Source updated August 8, 2026
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Ixia is a genus of cormous plants native to South Africa from the family Iridaceae. Some of them are known as the corn lily. Some distinctive traits include sword-like leaves and long wiry stems with star-shaped flowers. It usually prefers well-drained soil. The popular corn lily has specific, not very intense fragrance. It is often visited by many insects such as bees. The Ixia are also used sometimes as ornamental plants. The genus is endemic to the Cape Provinces of western South Africa.

The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek ἰξία (ixia) ( = χαμαιλέων λευκός, (chamaeleon leukos)), the pine thistle, Carlina gummifera, an unrelated plant in the daisy family, Asteraceae.

01Species

The genus Ixia includes the following species:

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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Ixia”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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List of plants known as lily

Lily usually refers to herbaceous plants of the genus Lilium, with large showy trumpet-shaped flowers. Many species are cultivated as ornamentals.