Description: Annual with reduced stem.
Leaves all basal, with a sheathing base and ligulate; blades linear.
Inflorescence axillary, consisting of 2 sessile female flowers subtending a pedunculate spike bearing bisexual, female and male flowers. Basal female flowers with no perianth, 1 carpel, and 1 thread-like style; fruit angled, often with hooks or spines. Bisexual flowers with 1 bract-like appendage arising from base of sessile anther; carpel 1, style 1. Female flowers of inflorescence of 2 kinds, (i) a single carpel and a single bract-like perianth segment and, (ii) a flower consisting of a single carpel. Male flowers of 1 bract-like perianth segment subtending a single sessile anther.
Fruits flattened
Distribution and occurrence: World: 1 species, North & South America. Australia: 1 species (naturalized).
Text by S. W. L. Jacobs
Taxon concept:
| One species in NSW: Lilaea scilloides |
|
