any of several plants belonging to the genus Freesia, of the iris family, native to southern Africa, having fragrant white, yellow, or sometimes rose-colored, tubular flowers.
Origin: 1880–85; < NL; named after E. M. Fries (1794–1878), Swedish botanist; see -ia
free·sia (frē'zhə, -zhē-ə, -zē-ə) n. Any of several plants of the genus Freesia, native to southern Africa, having one-sided clusters of fragrant, variously colored flowers.
[New Latin, after Friedrich Heinrich Theodor Freese (1795-1876), German physician.]