Crocosmia

Crocosmia (), also known as montbretia (), is a small genus of flowering plants in the iris family, Iridaceae. It is native to the grasslands of southern and eastern Africa, ranging from South Africa to Sudan. One species is endemic to Madagascar.

==Description== thumb|left|Naturalized montbretia (escaped from its original garden location) They can be evergreen or deciduous perennials that grow from basal underground corms. The alternate leaves are cauline (stem-borne) and ensiform (sword-shaped). The blades are parallel-veined. The margin is entire. The corms form in vertical chains, with the youngest at the top, and oldest and largest buried most deeply in the soil. The roots of the lowermost corm in a chain are contractile roots and drag the corm deeper into the ground where conditions allow. The chains of corms are fragile and easily separated, a quality that has enabled some species to become invasive and difficult to control in the garden.