Plants mostly terrestrial, rarely epiphytic, usually stemless. Leaves fasciculate or imbricate along a stem, entire or spinose-serrate, the sheath small, often bulbous-thickened, the blades linear to lanceolate with a definite petiole or narrowly tri-angular, sometimes dimorphic with some blades reduced to horny spinose-serrate spines, the larger blades sometimes deciduous. Inflorescence simple or compound. Flowers perfect, pedicellate to subsessile. Sepals free, acute or obtuse. Petals free, slightly zygomorphic in most species, naked or appendaged on the inside near base. Stamens from shorter to longer than the petals, the anthers linear. Ovary usually superior for most of its length. Style filiform. Ovules many, usually caudate. Capsule usually septicidal. Seeds caudate at both ends or rarely with an annular wing.
Home