Greek iphyon – the name for a pot-herb.

Perennial bulbous herbs with fleshy roots. Leaves deciduous, basal, sheathing, linear, flat, solid. Flowers radially symmetrical, stalked. Inflorescence terminal, simple, single-flowered. Tepals 3+3, fused, blue to white. Stamens 3+3, attached in two levels within the tube. Fruit a dehiscent capsule. Seeds ovoid, black.

Grown for the attractive flowers.

1 species naturalised in Australia.

Bulbous herbs with single-flowered scapes of radially symmetrical flowers with fused tepals and the anthers inserted in two levels.

10 species from South America.

Traub & Moldenke (1955).

Source: Conran, J. (2005). Alliaceae. 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.