S. I. Ali & Brian Mathew

Perennial herbs. Corms with papery or fibrous tunics. Stem simple or branched. Leaves mostly basal, distichous, linear, lanceolate or thread like, usually with a false midrib. Inflorescence a spike or panicle of spikes; spike with 2-many flowers, 2-ranked or spirally arranged. Bracts longer than ovaries. Perianth gamophyllous, infundibuliform or salver-shaped, lobes ( equal. Stamens 3, attached to the throat of the hypanthial tube or within it. Filaments free or connate at the base. Ovary bilocular, axile placentation; style thread-like, longer than stamens, stigma 3-fid. Fruit a membranous 3-valved capsule. Seeds angular.

A genus with c. 45 species, all from the Cape Province of South Africa; represented in Pakistan by one ornamental species.

Lower Taxon

• Ixia maculata Linnaeus