Nartheciaceae

By: Seerjana Maharjan & Jacek Wajer

Perennial rhizomatous herbs. Rhizomes adventitious; roots thin or fleshy. Stem single, erect, glabrous or pubescent. Leaves basal, tufted, in rosette and progressively reduced upwards, spirally arranged, simple, linear with parallel venation and prominent veins on lower leaves, sessile, acute at apex, entire. Scape glabrous or pubescent with few bract-like leaves, Inflorescence racemose. Flowers trimerous, gamotepalous, actinomorphic, bracteate, pedicellate; bracts linear-lanceolate, glabrous. Perianth ovate, campanulate or urceolate with spreading to reflexed lobes, glabrous, petaloid, persistent. Tepals 6 in two whorls, linear-lanceolate, enclosing androecium and gynoecium. Stamens 6 in two whorls, epitepalous, included, opposite to tepals. Filaments distinct, attached to tepals; anthers introse, dorsifixed, bilobed. Gynoecium tricarpellate, syncarpous; ovary ovoid, trilocular, with axile placentation; ovules numerous. Style 1, persistent; stigma 1, capitate or trifid. Capsules ovoid to subglobose or ellipsoid, with persistent tepals, splitting longitudinally on outer face. Seeds numerous, linear to curved with longitudinal ridges, with or without terminal appendages.

Worldwide 5 genera and 35 species (Christenhusz et al., 2017). One genus (Aletris ) and four species in Nepal.