Watsonieae is the second largest tribe in the subfamily

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 n ...

(which is included in the family

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 include ...

) and named after the best-known genus in it — '' Watsonia''. The members in this group are widely distributed in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, mainly in its

southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

parts. They sometimes have the typical sword-shaped leaves of the family

, but sometimes, like in '' Lapeirousia pyramidalis'' or ''

Lapeirousia divaricata ''Lapeirousia'' is a genus in the plant family Iridaceae. It is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa, about a third of the species occurring in fynbos. Origin of the generic name The genus ''Lapeirousia'' was described by Pierre André Pourret in Mé ...

'', they are very specific. The rootstock is a

corm A corm, bulbo-tuber, or bulbotuber is a short, vertical, swollen underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ that some plants use to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat (perennation). The word ' ...

. The blooms are collected in inflorescence and sometimes have scent. They have six tepals which are identical in the most cases but sometimes has small differences. The ovary is 3-locular. Most of these

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

s are not among the popular ornamental flowers. '' Watsonia'' is often used with this purpose, but the other genera are not very well known. However, they have many ornamental traits.

List of genera

Genera: * ''

Cyanixia ''Cyanixia'' is a genus of plants in the Iridaceae, first described in 2003. It contains only one known species, ''Cyanixia socotrana'', a perennial, herbaceous and bulbous plant species endemic to the Island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean, par ...

'' * ''

Lapeirousia ''Lapeirousia'' is a genus in the plant family Iridaceae. It is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa, about a third of the species occurring in fynbos. Origin of the generic name The genus ''Lapeirousia'' was described by Pierre André Pourret in Mé ...

'' * ''

Micranthus ''Micranthus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Iridaceae. The entire genus is endemic to Cape Province in South Africa. The genus name is derived from the Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, ...

'' * ''

Pillansia ''Pillansia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Iridaceae, first described as a genus in 1914. It contains only one known species, ''Pillansia templemannii'', endemic to Cape Province in South Africa.Germishuizen, G. & Meyer, N.L. (eds ...

'' * ''

Savannosiphon ''Savannosiphon'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Iridaceae, first described as a new species in 1980. It contains only one known species, ''Savannosiphon euryphylla'', native to tropical Africa (Zaire, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, ...

'' * ''

Thereianthus ''Thereianthus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Iridaceae, first described as a genus in 1941. The entire genus is endemic to Cape Province in South Africa.Manning, J.C. & Goldblatt, P. (2011). Taxonomic revision of the genus ''The ...

'' * '' Watsonia'' * '' Zygotritonia''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7974888 Iridaceae Asparagales tribes