Flora of New Zealand Series

Fls solitary, terminal or in axils of upper lvs. Tepals free, equal, narrow. Stamens 6, < per.; filaments glab., flattened; anthers shortly oblong, dehiscing laterally by slits. Ovary superior, sessile, 3-locular; styles 3, short, free or shortly connate basally, outwardly curved with inner face stigmatic distally; ovules ∞ in each locule. Capsule 3–6-sulcate, loculicidal. Seeds subglobose, brown. Small perennial herbs with tunicate corms and simple erect stems. Lvs few, linear, decreasing in size upwards. About 12 spp. extending from Africa through India to N. Australia. The one N.Z. sp. is endemic and might perhaps be equally well placed in the Australian genus Anguillaria R. Br. or in Wurmbea Thunb.