Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Asparagales Link
Family
Asparagaceae Juss.
 Subordinate Taxa
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Herpolirion Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 258 (1853)
 Description

Fl. solitary, terminal. Per. wide open, later closing round developing fr.; tepals free, subequal, outer 5-, inner 3–(4)-nerved. Stamens 6; filaments glab., at least in upper half; anthers linear, almost basifixed, introrse. Ovary superior, subglobose, sessile, 3-locular; ovules ∞; style cylindric, narrowing to small stigma. Capsule bluntly trigonous, loculicidal, valves separating to about half way. Seeds black, ± oblong, hilum-scar long and narrow. Small glab., tufted, perennial herbs with wiry, creeping, underground stems and fibrous roots. Lvs linear; sheath open, broad, membr. Genus monotypic, found also in Tasmania and S.E. Australia.

[From: Moore and Edgar (1970) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 2.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
Number of species in New Zealand within Herpolirion Hook.f.
CategoryNumber
Indigenous (Non-endemic)1
Total1
 Bibliography
Hooker, J.D. 1852–1853 ("1853"): The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. II. Flora Novae-Zelandiae. Part I. Flowering plants. Lovell Reeve, London.
Mabberley, D.J. 2008: Mabberley's plant book, a portable dictionary of plants, their classification and uses. Edition 3. Cambridge University Press.