Greek tri – three, teleios – perfect, referring to the tripartite flowers.
Perennial, cormous, tunicate herb, corms flattened. Leaves linear, keeled, sheathing, veins prominent. Flowers funnel- to bell-shaped. Inflorescence a several-flowered umbel, terminal. Tepals 3+3, fused basally, inner 3 lobes wider. Stamens 6, versatile, all fused to tepal tube. Ovary ovoid, stalked. Fruit a capsule. Seeds numerous, black.
Sometimes cultivated as a spring-flowering bulb on well-drained soil for the simple delicate flowers.
17 species from western N America.
Cormous geophyte with an umbel, anthers free but with a basal cup.
Hoover (1941), Lenz (1975), Niehaus (1980).
Source: (2005). Themidaceae. 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.