Freesia plants grow from a conical corm 1–2.5 cm diameter, which sends up a tuft of narrow leaves 10–30 cm long, and a sparsely branched stem 10–40 cm tall bearing a few leaves and a loose one-sided spike of flowers.
Many species have fragrant narrowly funnel-shaped flowers. Varities can have flowers ranging from white to yellow, pink, red and blue-mauve.