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Freesia caryophyllacea; photograph (c) Paul Emms, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) CC BY-SA(c) Paul Emms, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · observed growing wild · 2026-04-28

Freesia caryophyllacea (Burm.f.) N.E.Br.

Fragrant Freesia; Fragrant Kammetjie

Iridaceae · Cape Provinces · listed by its family as a bulb, tuber or caudex

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Freesia caryophyllacea, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedFreesia caryophyllacea, photograph (c) James Rodger, some rights reserved (CC BY)Freesia caryophyllacea, photograph (c) James Rodger, some rights reserved (CC BY)Freesia caryophyllacea, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedFreesia caryophyllacea, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedFreesia caryophyllacea, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 59 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
4.3°C
Record low 1.6 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
27°C
Jan and Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
498mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
16–48DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Freesia caryophyllacea is a dwarf, perennial geophyte endemic to the Western Cape and forms part of the fynbos. The species occurs from Wolseley to Swellendam, Hermanus and the Agulhas Plain. The plant grows to a height of 5 to 10 cm. The plant has already lost 77% of its habitat to agricultural activities, urban development and invasive plants. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Freesia caryophyllacea", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Freesia

Freesia is a genus of herbaceous perennial flowering plants in the family Iridaceae, first described as a genus in 1866 by Christian Friedrich Ecklon (1886) and named after the German botanist and medical practitioner, Friedrich Freese (1795–1876). It is native to the eastern side of southern Africa, from Kenya south to South Africa, most species being found in Cape Provinces. Species of the former genus Anomatheca are now included in Freesia. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Freesia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex, listed under the family Iridaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “tuberous geophyte”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (356 mm of 472 mm) takes 8 months, March to August and October to November. Mean temperature moves 9.6 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: September to February and April to May.

Rain

472 mm in the median year at the habitat, 356 mm of it March to August and October to November. Wettest month April at 61 mm, driest month February at 26 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 401 mm to 652 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 498 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 472 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 48 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 15, the highest 90th-percentile month 51).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 4.3 °C, the absolute minimum 1.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 40.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 6.5 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 4.5 °C to 9.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 26.8 °C in January (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 4.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 58 to 61% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -271 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the family Iridaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “tuberous geophyte”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Freesia caryophyllacea through the yearWarmest months January and February, mean daily high 27 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 6.5 °C; 472 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.0°10°20°30°40°50°40.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER1.6° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075mm rainDLI 16–48RH 58–61%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 129 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 24–2927 / 24–2925 / 23–2723 / 21–2420 / 19–2117 / 16–1817 / 15–1817 / 16–1919 / 17–2121 / 19–2323 / 21–2625 / 23–28
Night °C16 / 15–1817 / 15–1815 / 14–1713 / 11–1510 / 9–137 / 5–107 / 5–107 / 5–109 / 7–1111 / 9–1313 / 11–1515 / 13–16
Rain mm29 / 21–4626 / 18–4234 / 26–5561 / 46–7442 / 36–6142 / 34–6549 / 41–7349 / 41–7232 / 27–4743 / 31–6436 / 27–5729 / 22–49
DLI48 / 46–5142 / 40–4434 / 33–3625 / 24–2619 / 18–2016 / 15–1718 / 16–1822 / 21–2330 / 29–3138 / 37–3945 / 44–4748 / 47–50
RH %58 / 55–6159 / 57–6260 / 57–6261 / 57–6359 / 55–6258 / 55–6159 / 56–6160 / 56–6259 / 57–6159 / 56–6158 / 55–6058 / 55–61
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 129 grid cells holding the 296 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2481:4008 (-34.075, 20.425). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 1.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 4.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 40.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 129 distinct grid cells holding 296 of the 296 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2481:4008 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -34.00_20.625, lapse-corrected -271 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 95 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCape Provinces · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-34.272, 19.967 · in the densest population, 369 records (98% of those in range)
Kew's description“tuberous geophyte” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 378 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 296 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 104 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 12 km away. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. 82 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 378 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Freesia caryophyllacea, photograph 1did not loadFreesia caryophyllacea, photograph 2did not loadFreesia caryophyllacea, photograph 3did not loadFreesia caryophyllacea, photograph 4did not loadFreesia caryophyllacea, photograph 5did not loadFreesia caryophyllacea, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (4); (c) James Rodger, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Drimia capensis Drimia capensis Maerman Squill Photo: CC BY, ChristinaWatsonia aletroides Watsonia aletroides Renoster Watsonia Photo: CC BY-SA, Dave UAlbuca somersetianum Albuca somersetianum Asparagaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedOxalis zeekoevleyensis Oxalis zeekoevleyensis Hippo Sorrel Photo: CC BY, Henry de LangeCrassula campestris Crassula campestris Crassulaceae Photo: CC BY, nmoorhatchGeissorhiza nana Geissorhiza nana Iridaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Freesia 7 in the reference

Freesia corymbosa Freesia corymbosa Common freesia Photo: CC BY-SA, douglaseustonbrownFreesia fergusoniae Freesia fergusoniae Riversdale Freesia Photo: CC BY-SA, Brian du PreezFreesia grandiflora Freesia grandiflora Forest Freesia Photo: CC BY-SA, Suvarna Parbhoo MohanFreesia laxa Freesia laxa False freesia Photo: CC0, author not statedFreesia leichtlinii Freesia leichtlinii Dune Kammetjie Photo: CC BY, Christiaan ViljoenFreesia refracta Freesia refracta Garden Freesia Photo: CC BY, ChristinaFreesia viridis Freesia viridis Green Kammetjie Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony Rebelo

Names & registers

Also known as Anomatheca xanthospila; Freesia elimensis; Freesia parva; Freesia xanthospila; Gladiolus xanthospilus and 4 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Iridaceae
Described by
(Burm.f.) N.E.Br.
Native to
Cape Provinces
Wild records
378 in range · 104 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -34.00_20.625, lapse-corrected -271 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 5 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…