Alternative names: Not Applicable

Description:
Perennial herbs with basal grass-like leaves.

Flowers very small, unisexual, crowded in a solitary terminal head on a simple scape; each flower within an imbricate bract, the outer rows mostly female and the inner male; perianth-segments 4-6, membranous, the outer ones (sepals) darker and differently shaped from the inner ones (petals); flower-parts 2 or 3; stamens usually 6; ovary 2- or 3-celled, with 1 pendulous ovule in each cell.

Capsule splitting loculicidally; ovule orthotropous; albumen mealy.

Distribution:  13 genera and over 1,000 species mainly from warm areas.

Biology: No text

Author: Prepared by J.P. Jessop