The genus Ixia consists of a number of cormous plants native to South Africa from the Iridaceae family and Ixioideae subfamily. Some of them are known as the corn lily. Some distinctive traits include: sword-like leaves, and long wiry stems with star-shaped flowers. It usually prefers well-drained soil. They have a specific but not very intense fragrance of vegetables. That is why it is often visited by many insects such as bees.

Ixia paniculata is a South African endemic species from the Northern Cape and Western Cape Provinces where it can be found growing in Fynbos on seasonally damp sandy soils in seeps or drainage lines, on sandstone slopes and coastal flats from the Bokkeveld Mountains north of Nieuwoudtville to the Cape Peninsula and Kleinmond. It grows from 40cm to 100cm tall. During summer it bears cream to pinkish narrow tubed flowers. It is best sown during autumn.