FREESIA
The genus Freesia is a member of the family of Iridaceae, together with other well known bulb crops like Iris and Gladiolus. The genus Freesia is native to the Cape Region in South Africa, and consists of some 20 different species.Freesia has been named around 1830 after the German medical doctor Freese, it's name given by his fellow- student Ecklon, who was a collector of different plants in South Africa.
Initial breeding activities took place in the end of the 19th century in several European countries. These breeding activities continued during the first half of the 20th century, but only in the past three decades, the assortment and the total growing area was increasing rapidly.
Nowadays, the total acreage of freesia in Holland consist of about 280 hectares, annually resulting in about 45.000.000 stems, mainly marketed through the Dutch flower auctions.