Citation: Parl., Nuov. Gen. Sp. 49 (1854).

Derivation: Greek gynandros, hermaphrodite; Iris, the related genus; referring to the stamens and style borne together on an extension of the ovary.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: None

Description:
Small deciduous perennial herbs, dormant in summer; corm ovoid, with a fibrous tunic; leaves 1 or 2, basal or near-basal, lax, linear, channelled, with a dilated sheathing base; stem short, erect, terete, simple.

Inflorescence cymose, with overlapping scarious spathes; flowers 4-6 in each spathe on very short pedicels, very short-lived, actinomorphic; perianth-segments free, subequal, clawed at the base; filaments shortly connate; anthers basifixed, broadly linear; style branches 3, flattened, petaloid, each arched over a stamen, and with an erect, 2-fid, narrowly triangular terminal crest exceeding the flap-shaped stigma; ovary containing ovules in the lower third only, extended above as a narrow sterile beak supporting the flower.

Capsules membranous, cylindrical, enclosed in the spathe; seeds numerous, angular.

Distribution:  (P. Goldblatt (1980) Bot. Notis. 133:239-260.) 9 species in southern Africa, the Mediterranean region and south-western Asia; 1 is naturalised in Australia.

Biology: No text

Author: Not yet available