Greek homereo – meet together, referring to the joined stamens.
Perennial herbs, dormant in summer. Corms ovoid; tunics hard with netted fibres. Leaf usually solitary, near basal, narrow-linear, channelled, trailing, without a midrib. Stem branched, with remote sheathing bracts. Spathes terminal, green, enclosing several fugitive flowers. Perianth segments free, slightly unequal, forming a cup. Stamen filaments joined into a tube. Style almost hidden by stamens, the branches short, flattened, 2 lobed at tip.
Several species including H. flaccida Sweet, H. miniata (Andr.) Sweet and H. pallida Baker are toxic weeds of pasture and should never be grown as they spread rapidly and are difficult to kill.Their sale is illegal in several states.
32 species in S Africa, sometimes included in Moraea.
Single leaf; cup-shaped flowers on ends of stems.
Offsets or seed.
Goldblatt (1981a, 1998).
Source: (2005). Iridaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
