Iridaceae
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Iridaceae
Iridaceae is a family of plants in order Asparagales, taking its name from the irises, meaning rainbow, referring to its many colours. There are 66 accepted genera with a total of c. 2244 species worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016). It includes a number of other well known cultivated plants, such as freesias, gladioli and crocuses. Members of this family are perennial plants, with a bulb, corm or rhizome. The plants grow erect, and have leaves that are generally grass-like, with a sharp central fold. Some examples of members of this family are the blue flag and yellow flag. Name and history The family name is based on the genus ''Iris'', the largest and best known genus in Europe. This genus dates from 1753, when it was coined by Swedish botanist, Carl Linnaeus. Its name derives from the Greek goddess, Iris, who carried messages from Olympus to earth along a rainbow, whose colours were seen by Linnaeus in the multi-hued petals of many of the species. The family is current ...
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Crocus
''Crocus'' (; plural: crocuses or croci) is a genus of seasonal flowering plants in the family Iridaceae (iris family) comprising about 100 species of perennials growing from corms. They are low growing plants, whose flower stems remain underground, that bear relatively large white, yellow, orange or purple flowers and then become dormant after flowering. Many are cultivated for their flowers, appearing in autumn, winter, or spring. The flowers close at night and in overcast weather conditions. The crocus has been known throughout recorded history, mainly as the source of saffron. Saffron is obtained from the dried stigma of ''Crocus sativus'', an autumn-blooming species. It is valued as a spice and dyestuff, and is one of the most expensive spices in the world. Iran is the center of saffron production. Crocuses are native to woodland, scrub, and meadows from sea level to alpine tundra from the Mediterranean, through North Africa, central and southern Europe, the islands of the ...
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Crocuses
''Crocus'' (; plural: crocuses or croci) is a genus of seasonal flowering plants in the family Iridaceae (iris family) comprising about 100 species of perennials growing from corms. They are low growing plants, whose flower stems remain underground, that bear relatively large white, yellow, orange or purple flowers and then become dormant after flowering. Many are cultivated for their flowers, appearing in autumn, winter, or spring. The flowers close at night and in overcast weather conditions. The crocus has been known throughout recorded history, mainly as the source of saffron. Saffron is obtained from the dried stigma of ''Crocus sativus'', an autumn-blooming species. It is valued as a spice and dyestuff, and is one of the most expensive spices in the world. Iran is the center of saffron production. Crocuses are native to woodland, scrub, and meadows from sea level to alpine tundra from the Mediterranean, through North Africa, central and southern Europe, the islands of the ...
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Babiana
''Babiana'' ()''Sunset Western Garden Book'', 1995:606–607 is a genus of geophytes in the family Iridaceae with 93 recognized species . The leaves consist of a stalk and a blade that are at an angle to each other. The leaf blades are entire, laterally flattened and pleated, and often hairy. Each individual flower is subtended by two hairy or smooth bracts that are green in most species. The outer bract is often the largest of the two. In most species the bracts have a dry, brown tip, but in a few species it is entirely green or entirely dry when flowering or the outer bract is translucent and has a papery texture. The inner bract (between the flower and the stem) is forked or split all the way to its base. Each flower is without a pedicel, with six tepals that are merged at their base into a tube and form a perianth that is mirror-symmetrical in most species, with three anthers implanted where the perianth tube widens and that are, in almost every species, clustered at one side o ...
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Asparagales
Asparagales (asparagoid lilies) is an order (biology), order of plants in modern classification systems such as the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) and the Angiosperm Phylogeny Web. The order takes its name from the type (biology), type family (biology), family Asparagaceae and is placed in the monocots amongst the lilioid monocots. The order has only recently been recognized in classification systems. It was first put forward by herbert Huber (botanist), Huber in 1977 and later taken up in the Dahlgren system of 1985 and then the APG in 1998, 2003 and 2009. Before this, many of its families were assigned to the old order Liliales, a very large order containing almost all monocots with colorful tepals and lacking starch in their endosperm. DNA sequencing, DNA sequence analysis indicated that many of the taxa previously included in Liliales should actually be redistributed over three orders, Liliales, Asparagales, and Dioscoreales. The boundaries of the Asparagales and of its fam ...
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Iris (plant)
''Iris'' is a flowering plant genus of 310 accepted species with showy flowers. As well as being the scientific name, ''iris'' is also widely used as a common name for all ''Iris'' species, as well as some belonging to other closely related genera. A common name for some species is 'flags', while the plants of the subgenus '' Scorpiris'' are widely known as 'junos', particularly in horticulture. It is a popular garden flower. The often-segregated, monotypic genera '' Belamcanda'' (blackberry lily, ''I. domestica''), '' Hermodactylus'' (snake's head iris, ''I. tuberosa''), and ''Pardanthopsis'' (vesper iris, '' I. dichotoma'') are currently included in ''Iris''. Three Iris varieties are used in the Iris flower data set outlined by Ronald Fisher in his 1936 paper ''The use of multiple measurements in taxonomic problems'' as an example of linear discriminant analysis. Description Irises are perennial plants, growing from creeping rhizomes (rhizomatous irises) or, in drier cl ...
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Aristeoideae
''Aristea'' is a genus of evergreen, perennial and rhizomatous species of flowering plants in the family Iridaceae, first described in 1789. The genus is distributed in tropical and southern Africa, as well as Madagascar. The genus name is derived from the Greek word ''arista'', meaning "awn". ; SpeciesThe Plant List (2010). Version 1. Published on the Internet(accessed September 2013) * '' Aristea abyssinica'' Pax * ''Aristea africana'' (L.) Hoffmanns. * ''Aristea alata'' Baker * '' Aristea anceps'' Eckl. ex Klatt * ''Aristea angolensis'' Baker * ''Aristea angustifolia'' Baker * '' Aristea bakeri'' Klatt * ''Aristea bequaertii'' De Wild. * ''Aristea biflora'' Weim. * ''Aristea cantharophila'' Goldblatt & J.C.Manning * ''Aristea capitata'' (L.) Ker Gawl. * ''Aristea cistiflora'' J.C.Manning & Goldblatt * ''Aristea cladocarpa'' Baker * ''Aristea compressa'' Buchinger ex Baker * ''Aristea cuspidata'' Schinz * ''Aristea dichotoma'' (Thunb.) Ker Gawl. * ''Aristea dj ...
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Crocoideae
Crocoideae is one of the major subfamilies in the family Iridaceae. It contains plants which are widely distributed in the Old World, mainly in Africa, but there are species like some members of the genera ''Romulea'' and ''Gladiolus'' which are native to Europe and Asia. Some examples are ''Romulea bulbocodium'', ''Romulea columnae'' and ''Gladiolus italicus''. Like the rest of Iridaceae, the members of the subfamily have the typical sword-shaped leaves. The rootstock is usually a corm. The blooms which sometimes have scent are collected in inflorescence and contain six tepals. The nectar is produced mostly in the base of the bloom from the glands of the ovary, which is where the flower forms a tube-like end. In some species there is no such end and the plant only provides pollen to pollinating insects. The ovary is 3-locular and many-seeded, the appearance of the testa varying widely between the different genera: sometimes fine and delicate, as in the case of ''Gladiolus'' and ...
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Geosiridoideae
''Geosiris'' is a genus in the flowering plant family Iridaceae, first described in 1894. It was thought for many years to contain only one species, '' Geosiris aphylla'', endemic to Madagascar. But then in 2010, a second species was described, ''Geosiris albiflora,'' from Mayotte Island in the Indian Ocean northwest of Madagascar. In 2017, a third species was found in Queensland, Australia, ''Geosiris australiensis'' . ''Geosiris aphylla'' is sometimes called the "earth-iris." It is a small myco-heterotroph lacking chlorophyll and obtaining its nutrients from fungi in the soil. The genus name is derived from the Greek words ''geos'', meaning "earth", and ''iris'', referring to the Iris family of plants. Its rhizomes are slender and scaly, and stems are simple or branched. The leaves are alternate, but having no use, are reduced and scale-like. The flowers are light purple. In 1939, F. P. Jonker assigned ''Geosiris'' to its own family Geosiridaceae in Orchidales, and this was ...
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Nivenioideae
Nivenioideae is a subfamily of flowering plants and one of the six subfamilies in the family Iridaceae. It contains three genera, from South Africa which are the only true shrubs in the family ('' Klattia'', ''Nivenia'' and '' Witsenia''), It previously included ''Aristea'', ''Patersonia ''Patersonia'', commonly known as native iris or native flag and are native to areas from Malesia to Australia. Description They are perennials with basal leaves growing from a woody rhizome that in some species extends above ground to form a sh ...'' and also '' Geosiris'', which are now each placed in their own monotypic subfamily. References {{Taxonbar, from=Q6043444 Iridaceae Asparagales subfamilies ...
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Crocosmia
''Crocosmia'' (;), also known as montbretia, is a small genus of flowering plants in the iris family, Iridaceae. It is native to the grasslands of southern and eastern Africa, ranging from South Africa to Sudan. One species is endemic to Madagascar. Description They can be evergreen or deciduous perennials that grow from basal underground corms. The alternate leaves are cauline and ensiform (sword shaped). The blades are parallel-veined. The margin is entire. The corms form in vertical chains with the youngest at the top and oldest and largest buried most deeply in the soil. The roots of the lowermost corm in a chain are contractile roots and drag the corm deeper into the ground where conditions allow. The chains of corms are fragile and easily separated, a quality that has enabled some species to become invasive and difficult to control in the garden. They have colourful inflorescences of 4 to 20 vivid red and orange subopposite flowers on a divaricately (horizontally) branch ...
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Gladioli
''Gladiolus'' (from Latin, the diminutive of ''gladius'', a sword) is a genus of perennial cormous flowering plants in the iris family (Iridaceae). It is sometimes called the 'sword lily', but is usually called by its generic name (plural ''gladioli''). The genus occurs in Asia, Mediterranean Europe, South Africa, and tropical Africa. The center of diversity is in the Cape Floristic Region.Goldblatt, P. &, J.C. Manning. ''Gladiolus'' in Southern Africa : Systematics, Biology, and Evolution. Fernwood Press, Cape Town; 1998. The genera ''Acidanthera'', ''Anomalesia'', ''Homoglossum'', and ''Oenostachys'', formerly considered distinct, are now included in ''Gladiolus''. Description Gladioli grow from round, symmetrical corms (similar to crocuses) that are enveloped in several layers of brownish, fibrous tunics. Their stems are generally unbranched, producing 1 to 9 narrow, sword-shaped, longitudinal grooved leaves, enclosed in a sheath. The lowest leaf is shortened to a cata ...
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Freesias
''Freesia'' is a genus of herbaceous perennial flowering plants in the family Iridaceae, first described as a genus in 1866 by Christian Friedrich Ecklon (1886) and named after the German botanist and medical practitioner, Friedrich Freese (1795-1876). It is native to the eastern side of southern Africa, from Kenya south to South Africa, most species being found in Cape Provinces. Species of the former genus ''Anomatheca'' are now included in ''Freesia''. The plants commonly known as "freesias", with fragrant funnel-shaped flowers, are cultivated hybrids of a number of ''Freesia'' species. Some other species are also grown as ornamental plants. Description They are herbaceous plants which grow from a conical corm diameter, which sends up a tuft of narrow leaves long, and a sparsely branched stem tall bearing a few leaves and a loose one-sided spike of flowers with six petals. Many species have fragrant narrowly funnel-shaped flowers, although those formerly placed in the genus ...
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