Stamens 3; filaments free or slightly connate at the base; anthers linear-sagittate, versatile. Ovary 3-celled; ovules many in each cell; style short, with 3 linear-subulate spreading branches. Capsule broadly oblong or obovoid or globose, 3 valved. Seeds angled or compressed, smooth or foveolate.
A small genus of 8 or 10 species, found in New Zealand, Australia, and extratropical South America. One of the New Zealand species extends to Australia and Tasmania, the remaining two are endemic.
| Leaves ⅙–⅓ in. broad. Flower-clusters many, panicled. Capsule ⅓–½ in. long | 1. L. ixioides. |
| Leaves ⅓–½ in. Flower-clusters many, panicled. Capsule ½–¾ in. long | 2. L. grandiflora. |
| Leaves 112–16 in. Flower-clusters solitary or rarely 2–3. Capsule globose, ⅕ in. diam. | 3. L. pulchella. |
1. L. ixioides, Spreng. Syst. i. 168.—Rhizome very short. Leaves numerous, densely tufted. 1–2 ft. long, ⅙–⅓ in. broad, narrow-linear, acuminate, rigid and coriaceous, striate; margins cartilaginous, smooth or very obscurely and minutely scabrid. Flowering-stem longer or shorter than the leaves, usually with 1 or 2 cauline leaves below the inflorescence. Panicle broad; branches alternate from the axils of membranous sheathing bracts, bearing subumbellate clusters of 2–10 rather large white flowers on long pedicels. Perianth variable in size, ½–1 in. diam.; the 3 outer segments oblong or elliptic, often greenish on the outside; the 3 inner larger and broader, broadly oblong or orbicular, pure white. Capsule broadly oblong or obovoid, ⅓–½ in. long.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 307; Raoul, Choix, 41; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 252; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 274. L. restioides, Klatt in Linnæa, xxxi. (1861–62) 383. L. orbicularis, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xv. (1883) 329. Sisyrinchium ixioides, Forst. Prodr. n. 325; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 161. Moræa ixioides, Thunb. Diss. Moræa, 8. Ferraria ixioides, Willd. Sp. Plant. iii. 582. Renealmia ixioides, Ker-Gawl. Gen. Irid. 27. Nematostigma ixioides, A. Dietr. Sp. Plant. ii. 510.
Var. a.—Bracts all lanceolate.
Var. b.—Upper bracts ovate, acute.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands: Abundant from the North Cape southwards. Sea-level to 2000 ft. Tukauki. October–December.
A very variable plant. Var. b appears to be rare in the North Island.
2. L. grandiflora, Sweet Hort. Brit. ed. ii. 498.—Habit of L. ixioides, but taller and stouter, 2–3 ft. high, with leaves ⅓–½ in. broad. Flowering-stem and bracts much as in L. ixioides. Flowers rather larger, the inner perianth-segments much larger and broader than the outer, often 3 or 4 times as large. Capsule much larger,
