Homeria Vent.

Scientific Description

Common name. Cape Tulip. Family Iridaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Herbs (small to medium); evergreen, or deciduous. Perennial (annual leaves and flowers). Leaves basal, or basal and cauline (very basal). Plants with a basal concentration of leaves, or with neither basal nor terminal concentrations of leaves; cormous (small to medium, globose, pointed; tunic hard and netted). Helophytic to xerophytic. Leaves alternate; distichous; ‘herbaceous’, or leathery; sessile; sheathing. Leaf sheaths with free margins. Leaves foetid, or without marked odour; edgewise to the stem, or with ‘normal’ orientation; simple; epulvinate. Leaf blades entire; flat, or solid; linear, or lanceolate; linear (lower, usually); parallel-veined; without cross-venules; open or closed sheaths. Leaves eligulate; without stipules. Leaf blade margins entire. Leaves with a persistent basal meristem, and basipetal development. Leaf anatomy. Hairs absent. Extra-floral nectaries absent. Stem anatomy. Secondary thickening absent.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite. Floral nectaries present, or absent. Nectar secretion from the perianth (from nectaries at the tepal bases). Entomophilous, or ornithophilous, or anemophilous.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in cymes, or in corymbs. The terminal inflorescence unit cymose, or racemose. Inflorescences terminal; scape erect, simple or often branched, red sheathing bracts at the nodes; inflorescence of few to several cymes that are several-flowered, of few-flowered rhipidia; spatheate (2 per rhipidium, opposed, persistent, herbaceous, acuminate; inner spathe larger). Flowers pedicellate; bracteate (2, spathe-like, at the base of the pedicel, membranous); ebracteolate; small to large; regular; 3 merous; cyclic; tetracyclic. Perigone tube present. Perianth of ‘tepals’; 6; 2 -whorled; isomerous; petaloid; without spots, or spotted; similar in the two whorls, or different in the two whorls; yellow, or orange, or pink (all colours with green or yellow markings). Androecial members definite in number. Androecium 3. Androecial members adnate; all equal; coherent (filaments almost completely connate); when united, 1 - adelphous; 1 -whorled (representing the outer whorl). Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 3; all more or less similar in shape; reduced in number relative to the adjacent perianth to isomerous with the perianth; on the outer perianth segments; alterniperianthial (opposite the outer perianth lobes). Anthers separate from one another, or cohering; basifixed; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; extrorse. Gynoecium 3 carpelled. The pistil 3 celled. Gynoecium partly petaloid, or non-petaloid; syncarpous; synstylovarious; inferior. Ovary plurilocular; 3 locular. The ‘odd’ carpel anterior. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1; apical. Stigmas 3. Placentation axile. Ovules 20–50 per locule (many); arillate, or non-arillate; anatropous.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit non-fleshy; dehiscent; a capsule. Capsules loculicidal (from the apex). Fruit 3 celled; 20–100 seeded (many). Seeds endospermic. Endosperm oily. Cotyledons 1 (coleoptile-like). Embryo straight (small). Testa without phytomelan.

Etymology. From the Greek for "joined together, united"; refers to the staminal filaments, united in a tube round the styles; not to the Greek poet Homer as it is sometimes stated.