Belongs within: Petrosaviidae.
Contains: Crocus, Moraea, Romulea, Patersonia, Iris, Sisyrinchium, Ixieae.
The Iridaceae are a family of seasonal plants, most diverse in southern Africa. Many species in the family are popular ornamentals. The rootstock of members of this family is often a corm, as in Crocus or Watsonia, or a rhizome, as in Iris or Sisyrinchium. Representatives include the genus Watsonia in which numerous solitary flowers with bifid style-branches are borne on robust flowering stems, up to 180 cm tall (Healy & Edgar 1980). Homeria and Gynandriris are cormous plants with a single basal leaf (Healy & Edgar 1980).
Characters (from Healy & Edgar 1980): Perennial, rarely annual, glabrous, rarely pubescent herbs with rhizomes, corms and bulbs. Leaves often crowded at base of sten, mostly narrow-linear, flattened at sides, sheathing and equitant at base. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic to completely zygomorphic, in spikes, racemes or panicles, sometimes solitary, enclosed 1-several within two spathe-valves consisting of a bract and more membranous bracteole. Perianth petaloid, more or less marcescent; segments 6, connate basally into tube or occasionally free, more or less similar or three outer different in shape, size or colour from inner. Stamens 3, symmetrically placed in actinomorphic flowers, slightly irregularly placed, asymmetric, in zygomorphic flowers; filaments free or partly connate; anther bilocular, opening extrorsely or laterally by longitudinal slits. Ovary inferior, usually trilocular with axile placentae; style three-lobed in upper part, branches entire to deeply lobed, sometimes winged and petaloid, stigmatose at the top or within. Capsules loculicidally dehiscent. Seeds few to many.
<==Iridaceae [Iridales, Iridineae] |--IsophysisLC95 |--+--+--GeosirisLC95 | | `--Aristea ecklonii Baker 1877LC95, HE80 | `--+--PatersoniaLC95 | `--+--NiveniaLC95 | `--+--KlattiaLC95 | `--WitseniaLC95 `--+--+--+--IrisLC95 | | `--+--MariceaeLC95 | | `--TrigidieaeLC95 | `--+--Bobartia spathaceaLC95, B78 [incl. Xyris altissimaB78] | `--+--DiplarrheniaLC95 | `--SisyrinchiumLC95 `--+--PillansieaeLC95 `--+--IxieaeLC95 `--WatsoniaDE06 [WatsonieaeLC95] |--W. ardernei Sander 1899HE80 |--W. bulbillifera Mathews & Bolus 1922HE80 |--W. fulgens [incl. W. angusta]HE80 |--W. marginata Ker-Gawler 1802HE80 |--W. meriana (Linnaeus) Miller 1768HE80 `--W. tabularisDE06 Iridaceae incertae sedis: Schizostylis coccinea Backhouse & Harvey 1864HE80 FreesiaHE80 |--F. caryophyllaceaERV99 |--F. fergusoniaeERV99 `--F. refracta (von Jacquin) Klatt 1866HE80 Dietes bicolorHE80 NeomaricaDS04 |--N. gracilisMM96 `--N. northianaDS04 DieramaHE80 |--D. pendulum (Linnaeus) Baker 1877HE80 `--D. pulcherrimumHE80 GynandririsHE80 |--G. pritzelianaERV99 |--G. setifoliaHE80 `--G. sisyrinchiumPT98 SparaxisHE80 |--S. bulbifera (Linnaeus) Ker-Gawler in Koenig & Sims 1804HE80 |--S. caryophyllaceaERV99 |--S. grandifloraH93 `--S. tricolor (Schneevogt) Ker-Gawler in Koening & Sims 1804HE80 TritoniaHE80 |--T. crocata (Linnaeus) Ker-Gawler 1802HE80 `--T. lineata (Salisbury) Ker-Gawler in Koenig & Sims 1804HE80 Orthrosanthus laxusOS04 |--O. l. var. laxusOS04 `--O. l. var. gramineusOS04 FerrariaCV06 |--F. macrochlamysN06 `--F. schaeferiCV06 BabianaHE80 |--B. longicollisCV06 |--B. spiralisN06 `--B. stricta Ker-Gawler 1803HE80 HomeriaHE80 |--H. breyniana (n. d.)HE80 |--H. collina (Thunberg) Ventenat 1808HE80 `--H. flaccidaGK00 ChasmantheHE80 |--C. aethiopica (see below for synonymy)HE80 |--C. bicolor (Gasparrini) Brown 1932HE80 `--C. floribunda (Salisbury) Brown 1932HE80 LapeirousiaGE05 |--L. ancepsGE05 |--L. avasmontanaCV06 |--L. gracilisCV06 `--L. laxaHE80 CrocosmiaHE80 |--C. aureaHE80 |--C. × crocosmiiflora (Nicholson) Brown 1932 [C. aurea × C. pottsii]HE80 |--C. paniculata (Klatt) Goldblatt 1971HE80 `--C. pottsiiHE80 Libertia Spreng. 1824 (nom. cons.)ME70 |--*L. ixioides (Forst. f.) Spreng. 1824ME70 (see below for synonymy) |--L. elegansD03 |--L. formosaH93 |--L. grandiflora (Br.) Sweet 1830ME70 (see below for synonymy) `--L. peregrinans Cockayne & Allan 1926ME70 CrocusHE80 MoraeaMG06 RomuleaMG06 Heritieria Bosc 1798B98 `--*H. tinctorum Bosc 1798B98 ArgolosiaB98 Irites alaskana Lesquereux 1888CBH93 Sophronia Licht. ex Roem. & Schult. 1817KC01 Sphaerospora Klatt 1864KC01 Belamcanda Adans. 1763G77 `--B. chinensis (Linné) DC. in Redouté 1805 (see below for synonymy)G77 Eleutherine Herbert 1843 (nom. cons.)G77 `--E. palmifolia (Linné) Merr. 1912 (see below for synonymy)G77 Trimezia Salisb. ex Herbert 1844G77 `--T. martinicensis (Jacq.) Herbert 1844 (see below for synonymy)G77 GalaxiaERV99 |--G. grandifloraERV99 |--G. luteo-albaERV99 |--G. ovataERV99 |--G. stagnalisERV99 |--G. variabilisERV99 `--G. versicolorERV99 GeissorhizaERV99 |--G. bolusiiERV99 |--G. corrugataERV99 |--G. ovalifoliaERV99 |--G. ovataERV99 `--G. parvaERV99 Hesperantha montigenaERV99 Micranthus alopecuroidesERV99 Syringodea derustensisERV99 Xenoscapa fistulosaERV99
Belamcanda chinensis (Linné) DC. in Redouté 1805 [=Ixia chinensis Linné 1753, Pardanthus chinensis Ker-Gawl. in König & Sims 1805; incl. Balem-canda schularmani]G77
Chasmanthe aethiopica [=Antholyza aethiopica, Petamenes aethiopica (Linnaeus) Allan 1940, Pentamenes (l. c.) aethiopica]HE80
Eleutherine palmifolia (Linné) Merr. 1912 [=Sisyrinchium palmifolium Linné 1767; incl. Ixia americana Aubl. 1775, Eleutherine americana Merr. ex Heyne 1922, Sisyrinchium bulbosum Mill. 1768, E. bulbosa (Mill.) Urban in Fedde 1918, Antholyza meriana Blanco 1837, Moraea plicata Sw. 1797, Eleutherine plicata Herbert 1843]G77
Libertia grandiflora (Br.) Sweet 1830ME70 [=Renealmia grandiflora Br. 1810ME70; incl. L. macrocarpa Klatt 1861–1862C06, L. orbicularis Col. 1883ME70]
*Libertia ixioides (Forst. f.) Spreng. 1824ME70 [=Sisyrinchium ixioides Forst. f. 1786ME70, Ferraria ixioidesC06, Moraea ixioidesC06, Nematostigma ixioidesC06, Renealmia ixioidesC06; incl. L. restioides Klatt 1861–1862C06]
Trimezia martinicensis (Jacq.) Herbert 1844 [=Iris martinicensis Jacq. 1760, Cipura martinicensis Kth in H. B. K. 1816, Trimeza (l. c.) martinicensis; incl. Trimezia lurida Salisb. 1812]G77
*Type species of generic name indicated
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