Xeronema Brongn. & Gris
Infl. terminal; raceme secund; peduncle long with several large sheathing bracts; pedicel not articulated, subtended by floral bract. Fls red; tepals free, ± equal, 1-nerved, at first erect, becoming reflexed and twisted and so persisting with the entangled staminal filaments until the capsule opens. Stamens 6; filaments > tepals, glab.; anthers oblong, versatile, dorsifixed, foveolate at insertion of filament, introrse, dehiscing by a longitudinal slit. Ovary superior, ± stipitate, constricted about the middle, 3-locular, each locule with several ovules; style > tepals, cylindric; stigma narrow. Capsule ± trigonous, broader below than above the equatorial constriction, loculicidal but the valves us. separating widely only in upper part. Seeds ± spiny-papillose. Robust, tufted, glab., evergreen herbs of irislike habit; rhizome short, erect, hidden in massive fibrous remains of old lvs; tillers ∞. Lvs distichous, equitant, rigid; sheathing base long, thick and fleshy. Genus of 2 spp., X. moorei in the mountains of New Caledonia and the N.Z. endemic sp.
Moore (Pacif. Sci. 11, 1957, 355–362) has compared the 2 spp., with illustrations.
