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Watsonia
Also called Vascular Plants, Tracheophytes
Watsonia (bugle lily) is a genus of plants in the family Iridaceae, subfamily Crocoideae. Watsonias are native to southern Africa (South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini). The genus is named after Sir William Watson, an 18th-century British botanist.
The most commonly cultivated species is the pink-flowered Watsonia borbonica and its white mutant 'Arderne's White'. These were crossed with Watsonia meriana and other species in the early 20th century by breeders including John Cronin in Australia and Luther Burbank in California to produce a wide range of cultivars. Watsonia has been eclipsed in popularity by Gladiolus and other bulbs, and is now neglected by the nursery industry.
Native to South Africa, Watsonia species were introduced as garden ornamentals to Australia in the mid-19th century and were widely grown by the 1940s.
Renoster Watsonia · Wine Watsonia · Amatola Watsonia · Bulbil bugle-lily · Watsonia bachmannii · Watsonia bella · Cape bugle-lily · Mistbelt Watsonia · Dwarf Watsonia · Confusing Watsonia · Dense Watsonia · Lax Watsonia
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Watsonia (plant) by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
