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Tigridia

Tigridia , is a genus of bulbous or cormous flowering plants belonging to the family Iridaceae. With common names including peacock flowers, tiger flowers, jaguar flowers, or shell flowers, they have large showy flowers; and one species, Tigridia pavonia, is often cultivated for this. The approximately 60 species in this family grow in the Americas, from Mexico down to Chile.

The tigridia flower is short lived, each often blooming for only one day, but often several flowers will bloom from the same stalk. Usually they are dormant during the winter dry-season. The roots are edible and were eaten by the Aztecs of Mexico who called it cacomitl, and its flower ocēlōxōchitl meaning "jaguar flower".

It was first published by French botanist Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in his book Genera plantarum on page 57 in 1789.

The genus name Tigridia means "tiger-like", and alludes to the coloration and spotting of the flowers of the type species Tigridia pavonia.

Species

There are 60 species accepted by Plants of the World Online;

Hybrids

Several hybrids exist, including; Tigridia × mathewii , first published in Phytoneuron 2015-53: 4 in 2015. It is an artificial hybrid, a cross of T. orthantha × T. pavonia.

Distribution

They are native to the countries (and regions) of; northern Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Peru.

They have been introduced into: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Madeira.

References

Other sources

  • Rodriguez, A. and K. Sytsma. 2006. Phylogeny of the "Tiger-flower" group (Tigrideae: Iridaceae): Molecular and morphological evidence. Pp. 412–424, in J.T. Columbus, E.A. Friar, J.M. Porter, L.M. Prince and M.G. Simpson (eds.). Monocots: Comparative Biology and Evolution, Vol. 1. Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont.