Herbertia (plant)

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Herbertia
Prairie nymph -- Herbertia lahue.jpg
Herbertia lahue
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Iridaceae
Subfamily: Iridoideae
Tribe: Tigridieae
Genus: Herbertia
Sweet
Type species
Herbertia pulchella
Sweet
Synonyms [1]
  • SympaRavenna
  • TrifurciaHerb.

Herbertia is a small genus of herbaceous, perennial and bulbous plants in the family Iridaceae. [2]

Contents

Description

Prairie nymph -- Herbertia lahue Herbertia lahue.jpg
Prairie nymph -- Herbertia lahue

Herbaceous and perennial plants, from tunicate, ovoid bulbs with brown, dry, brittle and papery tunics. The stems are simple or branched. The leaves are few, with the basal ones larger than the others; the blade is pleated, linear-lanceolate.

Taxonomy

Herbertia consists of 8 accepted species. One of them is native to southeastern + south-central United States, while the others are distributed in South America. [1] The genus is closely related to Alophia , Cypella , and Tigridia .

The name of the genus is dedicated to William Herbert (1778–1847), a prominent British botanist and specialist in bulbous plants. [3]

Species [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  2. Goldblatt, P. (1978). Herbertia reinstated as a valid generic name. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 64: 378-379.
  3. Manning, John; Goldblatt, Peter (2008). The Iris Family: Natural History & Classification. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. pp. 243–46. ISBN   978-0-88192-897-6.
  4. Biota of North America Program 2013 county distribution map