Acidanthera

ACIDANTHERA (as-id-an’thee-rah). A genus of tender summer-blooming herbaceous plants of the Iris Family native to tropical and South Africa. One species, Acidanthera bicolor, is sometimes grown in gardens, being handled like the gladiolus or, where the season is too short for that, grown in pots or tubs outdoors over summer and brought indoors to bloom. The cream-colored long-tubed flowers with dark centers up to 2 in. across droop on short slender stalks from a 12 to 18 in. stem.

Propagation is by seeds or the numerous cormels that form about the gladiolus-like corm, which should be dried off promptly after the flowers have faded, whether grown indoors or in pots, as it is likely to rot if stored away moist.

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