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Ixia viridiflora is one of the most striking and unusual of our winter rainfall bulbous plants and very few plants can beat it for sheer brilliance of flower. It is a winter-growing, summer-dormant, deciduous perennial. The rootstock is a corm, usually about 1 cm in diameter. It is one of the taller ixias, with upright, narrow, grass-like leaves, 400- 550 mm long. The inflorescence is a lax, many-flowered spike with 12 to 20 flowers per spike, on a slender stem, 500 - 950 mm long.
A mass of Ixia viridiflora. Each flower is a brilliant turquoise-green with a conspicuous purple-black circular stain or 'eye' in the middle. The dark eye is caused by the deep blue sap of the cells of the upper epidermis. The green colour is not produced by green pigment but is due to the effects of light being refracted from striations in the cell wall and granules embedded in the pale blue cell sap. The green ixia is particularly showy, a number of flowers on the spike open together and persist for several days without fading or falling off.
In fact, this ixia has more flowers open together at one time on one spike than any of the other ixias. The flowers need sun and warmth to open, and are at their best on hot still days. Flowering season is late spring.
Sadly, it is listed as Vulnerable in the Red Data Book, and is likely to be upgraded to Endangered in the near future, if the decline in numbers continues.
