Perennial thick-rooted rhizomatous herbs. Leaves simple, entire, linear, rosette-forming. Flowers radially symmetrical, uni- or bisexual, numerous in terminal scapose racemes or panicles.Tepals 3+3, free; individual flower stalks absent or not articulated. Stamens 6, free or attached to the base of the tepals. Ovary superior, 3- chambered with numerous ovules. Fruit a few- to many- seeded berry or capsule. Seeds black.
The most closely related families are Blandfordiaceae and Hypoxidaceae.
4 genera in moist temperate Australia, New Zealand, S America and widely in the Pacific.
Rhizomatous perennial rosette herbs of cool moist places with silvery foliage.
Moore, L.B. (1966).
Source: (2005). Asteliaceae. 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.