Herbaceous geophytes with a fibrous base and with a rhizome. Leaves basal, sessile, plicate, with a sheathing base; outermost reduced to cataphylls. Indumentum of 2-armed or stellate hairs. Inflorescences borne near the base. Flowers with ovary hidden within the sheathing leaf bases; the perianth, stigma and anthers borne well above the ovary on an elongated narrow tube (the perianth tube). Perianth lobes yellow. Fruit fleshy and indehiscent, enclosed within the leaf base remnants and bearing the persistent perianth rube. Seeds black, glossy, strophiolate. Worldwide: 10 species in the southern hemisphere tropics Malawi: 1 taxon. |
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