Freesia (Freesia leichtlinii x.)

Freesia (Freesia leichtlinii x.), South African-origin crocoids that occasionally find favour as spreading spring bulbs in Melbourne cottage gardens. Descendants of horticultural hybrids, they are nevertheless free-seeding in addition to spreading by division. They began to naturalise across Australia circa the 1940s, and it would not surprise me if this was a consequence of an uptick in their popularity in the nursery trade at that time. Freesias are high priority environmental weeds in Western Australia and South Australia, and are an increasing concern in many natural areas in Victoria as well. This colony was pictured atop the Northcote railway cutting (effectively a sandstone outcrop).

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Search for information about Freesia leichtlinii x. in the Flora of Victoria

View information and occurrences of Freesia leichtlinii x. on the Atlas of Living Australia

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