Class
Order
Classification
Subordinate Taxa
Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Xeronema Brongn. & Gris, Bull. Soc. Bot. France 11: 316 (1864)
Vernacular Name(s):
poor knights lily; Xeronema
Description
Infl. terminal; raceme secund; peduncle long with several large sheathing bracts; pedicel not articulated, subtended by floral bract. Fls red; tepals free, ± equal, 1-nerved, at first erect, becoming reflexed and twisted and so persisting with the entangled staminal filaments until the capsule opens. Stamens 6; filaments > tepals, glab.; anthers oblong, versatile, dorsifixed, foveolate at insertion of filament, introrse, dehiscing by a longitudinal slit. Ovary superior, ± stipitate, constricted about the middle, 3-locular, each locule with several ovules; style > tepals, cylindric; stigma narrow. Capsule ± trigonous, broader below than above the equatorial constriction, loculicidal but the valves us. separating widely only in upper part. Seeds ± spiny-papillose. Robust, tufted, glab., evergreen herbs of irislike habit; rhizome short, erect, hidden in massive fibrous remains of old lvs; tillers ∞. Lvs distichous, equitant, rigid; sheathing base long, thick and fleshy.
[From: Moore and Edgar (1970) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 2.]
Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
| Category | Number |
|---|---|
| Indigenous (Endemic) | 1 |
| Total | 1 |
Bibliography
Brongniart, A.T. & Gris, J.A.A. 1864: Sur un Nouveau Genre de Liliacées. Bulletin de la Société Botanique de France 11: 316–317.
Mabberley, D.J. 2008: Mabberley's plant book, a portable dictionary of plants, their classification and uses. Edition 3. Cambridge University Press.
