Description:

• Rhizomatous herbs; with many, long, thin, variable roots, with scattered tuberous swellings, or hard, or swollen and spongy, or sometimes shortly tuberous; rhizome without anthraquinones (never yellow inside)
• Leaves rosulate, 1-many, linear to ovate, sometimes narrowed into a petiole, margin usually fimbriate
• Flowers in a terminal, simple or branched raceme overtopping leaves, fascicled in axils of bracts, opening consecutively, rarely solitary, open all day; scape with multibracteate nodes; pedicels articulated, usually near middle
• Perianth stellate or reflexed, rarely campanulate, persistent, enveloping capsule or rarely reflexed in fruit; segments subequal, oblong, white or pink, midrib darkening with age
• Stamens: filaments glabrous or papillate; anthers basifixed, usually large
• Ovary sessile or shortly stipitate, trigonous, with 6-30 biseriate ovules per locule; style declinate, terete; stigma apical, small
• Fruit a trigonous capsule
• Seeds large, nonarillate, thin, folded or flat, black
• x = 7

Nomenclature:

• Chlorophytum Ker Gawl. emend. Nordal
  • Ker Gawler: t. 1071 (1808)
  • Baker: 397 (1897)
  • Obermeyer: 690 (1962)
  • Sölch et al.: 36 (1970)
  • Marais & Reilly: 653 (1978)
  • Nordal et al.: 535 (1990)
  • Kativu & Nordal: 59 (1993) name emended
  • Kativu: 43 (1994)
  • Nordal et al.: 4 (1997)
• Anthericum L.
  • Linnaeus: 310 (1753) in part
  • Baker: 378 (1897)
  • Obermeyer: 670 (1962)
  • Sölch et al.: 22 (1970)
  • Marais & Reilly: 653 (1978)
  • Retief & Herman: 91 (1997)

Distribution & Notes:

• Global: Species ± 165, Africa, Madagascar, Asia
• Southern Africa: Species 36, widespread in all countries and provinces