Dietes Klatt

Greek di – two, and etes – kin; referring to its resemblance to both Iris and Moraea.

Tufted evergreen perennial herbs with rhizomes. Leaves flat, sword-shaped, 2 ranked in fans. Stem erect, branched, with a few shorter leaves and sheathing spathes. Flowers erect, radially symmetrical, appearing from spathes one at a time. Perianth tube absent; all segments spreading, the outer ones larger than inner. Stamens free. Style branches petal-like, smaller than the inner perianth segments.

6 species in southern Africa and Lord Howe Island.

Seed or division.

Large evergreen tussocks of flat leaves; flattened Iris-like flowers without a perianth tube cf. Iris, Moraea.

Goldblatt (1981b).

Source: Cooke, D. (2005). Iridaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

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kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Lilianae
order      Asparagales
family       Iridaceae
Higher taxa
Subordinate taxa
species         Dietes bicolor (Steud.) Klatt
species         Dietes grandiflora N.E.Br.
species         Dietes iridioides (L.) Klatt
species         Dietes robinsoniana (F.Muell.) Klatt