Hypoxidaceae
By: Yagya R. Paneru & Mark F. Watson
Taxon Description
Perennial herbs, occasionally stoloniferous. Rootstock a tuberous rhizome or corm, frequently crowned with fibrous or scaly remnants of old leaves. Roots fibrous. Leaves radical, sessile or petiolate, blades linear to lanceolate, distinctly veined, ciliate. Scapes erect, leafless, distinct or short and obscure, arising from basal rosette. Inflorescences erect, never exceeding the leaves, raceme 1-2-flowered or multi-flowered, bracteate. Flowers bisexual or unisexual, 3-merous. Perianth segments spreading, tepals subequal, free, sometimes basally connate forming a tube. Stamens 6, anthers dorsifixed or basifixed, filaments short, sometimes sub-equaling anthers. Ovary inferior, 3-loculate, placentation axile, stigma 3-lobed, style short. Fruit a capsule or berry, seeds 1 to many, oblong or globose.
Taxon Statistics
Worldwide 6 genera and about 169 species in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australasia. Two genera and five species in Nepal.