Iridaceae - Iris family

Perennial herbs with rhizomes, bulbs or corms. Inflorescence either (1) composed of rhipidia enclosed in leafy to dry bracts (spathes) or (2) consisting of a spike or (3) with flowers solitary. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic or zygomorphic, with 2 whorls of petaloid tepals which are usually showy and may be free or, more usually, partly united into a perianth tube. Stamens 3. Ovary inferior, 3-locular with axile placentation. Style filiform, usually 3-branched; style branches filiform or broadened, sometimes divided at the apex. Fruit a capsule. Seeds sometimes winged.

Worldwide: 82 genera and 1700 species, cosmopolitan, but especially in South Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and Central and South America.

Zambia: 18 genera and 63 taxa.