Hypoxis L.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Hypoxidaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Genus Description - Plants with underground, fleshy, cormlike, vertically growing stems. Leaves linear-lanceolate, grasslike, usually pilose. Inflorescences a solitary scape from the leaf axils, usually shorter than the leaves, with a 1- to several-flowered raceme borne distally, the flowers sessile or on short pedicels, each subtended by a setaceous bract. Perianth of similar sepals and petals, free to base, yellow or whitish within and green without, the sepals 3, typically pilose without, the petals 3, glabrous on both surfaces; stamens exserted; filaments short, the anthers versatile, rarely basifixed; style short. Fruit a dehiscent, subcylindrical, ellipsoid capsule, circumscissile below the apex, bearing the withering and persistent perianth segments at apex; seeds small, subglobose, dark brown or black, muricate, papillose, or pebbled, with a beak and rostrate hilum.
Distribution and Ecology - A genus of 80-100 species occurring in the Americas, subtropical Asia, and Australia, with the center of diversity in southern Africa.