Caesia
Content
Description
Leaves basal, subulate to linear, expanded at the base to form a sheath.
Inflorescence a raceme or more often a panicle.
Ovary superior, sessile, globose or subglobose, 3-celled;
Capsule dehiscing loculicidally;
Seeds angular or globose, usually solitary in each locule.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical, Australasia, Cape Province present, Madagascar present, S. Papua New Guinea present, South Africa present, W. Distr.: Wassi Kussa area present
Madagascar (1 sp.), South Africa (2 spp.; Cape Province) and Australia (7-9 spp.), of which one species also occurs in Malesia: S. Papua New Guinea (W. Distr.: Wassi Kussa area).
Notes
Generically this group is regarded as well-defined by the spirally-twisting perianth and 2-ovuled locules. The South African monotypic genus Nanolirion Bth. (1883) was formerly distinguished by having a 1-3-flowered inflorescence (Phillips, 1951), but Obermeyer (1973) placed it under Caesia.
Citation
Payens 1957 – In: Nova Guinea n.s. p 383
Black 1943 – In: Fl. S. Austr. p 192
Ewart 1930: Fl. Vict. p 289
Bailey 1902 – In: Queensl. Fl. p 1632
Phillips 1951: Gen. S. Afr. Fl. Pl., ed. 2. p 1002
Bth. 1878 – In: Fl. Austr. p 46
Baker 1876 – In: J. Linn. Soc. Bot. p 357
Obermeyer 1973 – In: Bothalia. p 122
Krause 1930 – In: E. & P., Nat. Pfl. Fam., ed. 2, 15a. p 288
Hutch. 1959 – In: Fam. Fl. Pl., ed. 2. p 596
Schlittler 1957: p. 6. – In: Mitt. Bot. Mus. Un. Zurich. map
Baker 1897 – In: Fl. Cap. p 400