The family is currently divided into four subfamilies (Goldblatt 1990), but tribal delimitations remain unsatisfactory. Subfamily Isophysidoideae is monotypic comprising the Tasmanian Isophysis T.Moore with a superior ovary. The remaining subfamilies, Nivenioideae, Iridoideae and Ixioideae are all represented in southern Africa
Subfamily Nivenioideae (Mostly evergreen perennials, or woody shrubs; rootstock a woody caudex or a rhizome; inflorescences paired (binate) rhipidia Of sometimes rhipidia single; flowers actinornorphic, with or without a perianth tube, fugaceous or long-lived, mostly blue.):
Aristea
Klattia
Nivenia
Witsenia
Subfamily Iridoideae (Evergreen or deciduous perennials; rootstock a rhizome or sometimes a corm with roots produced from apical bud (or bulbs or obsolete); leaves often bifacial and channelled or sometimes terete; inflorescences rhipidia; flowers actinomorphic, rarely with a perianth tube, often fugaceous, variously coloured.):
Bobartia
Dietes
Ferraria
Moraea
Subfamily Ixioideae (Evergreen or more often deciduous perennials; rootstock a corm producing roots from base; inflorescences spikes or flowers solitary on aerial or subterranean branches; flowers always sessile and subtended by 2 bracts, actinomorphic or zygomorphic, then usually bilabiate, with a perianth tube, long-lived, variously coloured.):
Babiana
Chasmanthe
Crocosmia
Devia
Dierama
Duthiastrum
Freesia
Geissorhiza
Gladiolus
Hesperantha
Ixia
Lapeirousia
Melasphaerula
Micranthus
Pillansia
Radinosiphon
Romulea
SparaxisI
Syringodea
Thereianthus
TritoniaI
Tritoniopsis
Watsonia
Xenoscapa
Copyright of the content hosted by this website remains with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), unless stated otherwise. Material from this site may be used in other media, provided that SANBI is acknowledged by the name South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) or refer to the 'How to cite this resource' paragraph on the Home page. Liability disclaimer: Visitors use this site at their own risk and SANBI is not liable for any of the consequences resulting therefrom.
Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
The system is still under development, so you may find a few bugs/issues. If you do, please report it via the error reporting button available in various sections of the website or provide us with any useful feedback you may have via the ‘Give us feedback’ option available in the sidebar menu. You can create a free account for yourself by clicking on the user profile icon which will take you through to the login page. Here you can choose the ‘Create an account’ option or simply fill in your details if you have an account already. Having an account on Biodiversity Advisor will provide users with free access to biodiversity resources.
In future, Team SANBI will be able to log in using their day-to-day login details, BGIS users will be able to use their existing accounts and details, and general users will be able to log in using their LinkedIn profile, but for now you will need to create an account.
