- Source: Xeronema
Xeronema is a genus of flowering plants containing two species, Xeronema moorei from New Caledonia, and Xeronema callistemon (the Poor Knights lily) from the Poor Knights Islands and Taranga Island in New Zealand. The plants are herbaceous monocots, spreading by rhizomes, and have large flowers set on terminal spikes, with stamens towering above the flowers.
The type species X. moorei is found in the mountains of New Caledonia.
The Poor Knights lily (X. callistemon) is endemic to the Poor Knights Islands and Taranga Island in the north of New Zealand. It was discovered in 1924. The Poor Knights lily has large bottlebrush flower clusters that grow horizontally. The clusters begin growing vertically and then bend sideways. Bright red flowers grow upward from the stalk, with bright orange pollen. The plant can reach a height of one metre tall and across.
The APG IV system, of 2016, accepts this genus as constituting its own family Xeronemataceae. It places this in the order Asparagales, in the clade monocots. The family can be separated from other Asparagales families on DNA evidence; it is related to Asphodelaceae but differs in having uniformly unifacial leaves like Iridaceae.
References
External links
Endémia: Faune & Flore de Nouvelle-Calédonie, URL: Xeronema moorei Archived 10 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
New Zealand Plant Conservation Network, URL: Xeronema callistemon f. callistemon, retrieved 3 October 2010.
New Zealand Plant Conservation Network, URL: Xeronema callistemon f. bracteosa, retrieved 3 October 2010.
Strange Wonderful Things.com, URL: The Poor Knight's lily
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Xeronemataceae
- Xeronema
- Xeronema callistemon
- Hemerocallidoideae
- Raceme
- Asphodelaceae
- List of plant family names with etymologies
- Poor Knights Islands
- Poor Knights
- Families of Asparagales
- List of lilioid families