New species of Sparaxis and Ixia (Iridaceae: Ixioideae) from Western Cape, South Africa, and taxonomic notes on Ixia and Gladiolus

Abstract

Sparaxis auriculata is a new species of this western Cape and western Karoo genus It resembles  S. villosa (Burm.f.)Goldblatt in its (lowers but is probably allied to  S.  galeata (Jacq.) Ker Gawl.  Sparaxis metelerkampiae, currently a sub­species of S. variegata Sweet is raised to species rank. We propose changes to the infrageneric classification of the southern African winter rainfall genus  Ixia. and describe a new species, I. aurea It is related to I odorata Ker Gawl. but differs in the larger deep yellow or orange flowers which are unscented In  Gladiolus, we propose the new name.  G saxatilis. for the Mpumalanga endemic, originally described as G litliicola Goldblatt & J.C.Manning, a homonym for an Ethiopian species.