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 sobolifera subsp. carnea is a range-restricted South African endemic species found in the Northern Cape from Loeriesfontein to Nieuwoudtville and Calvinia growing amongst fynbos on dolerite-derived clay or shale slopes, rarely in tillite soils among sandstone rocks. From late winter to mid-spring it produces striking pink/purple pendulous flowers.