Bot. [mod.L. (1805), a. Gr. σπάραξις tearing, laceration.] A genus of S. African iridaceous plants (related to the genus Ixia and characterized by a lacerated spathe), species of which are cultivated for their showy flowers; a plant or bulb of this genus.
1829. Loudon, Encycl. Plants, 40.
1841. Duncan, Hist. Guernsey, 557. The innumerable species of ixia, sparaxis, and other cognate genera of Cape bulbs. Ibid., 559. The ixia, too, and the sparaxis, have lately been observed to hybridise.
1852. Johnson, Cottage Gard. Dict., 517/1. The true Ixias are known from Sparaxis by not having, like it, a jagged sheath.
