Flora of New Zealand Series

Evergreen perennial. Corm with dry coats of parallel fibres. Leaves linear, rigid, grass-like, distichous. Panicle lax with slender pendulous branches. Flowers showy, each within 2 membranous spathe-valves; tube short, dilated at throat; lobes subequal, > tube. Stamens symmetrical. Style with 3 short, entire, cuneate branches. Capsule small, oblong. Seeds small, globose or angled by pressure. Spp. c. 25, of tropical and S. Africa. Adventive sp. 1.