Aphoma Rafinesque, nom. rej.

Herbs perennial, cormous. Corm covered with a tunic. Stem erect, leafy. Leaves several, scattered, sessile, linear. Flowers solitary or several in a terminal corymb, small; bracts leaflike; pedicels long. Tepals 6, free, spreading, rather narrow, clawed, usually caducous. Stamens 6, inserted at base of tepals; filaments short, slightly flat; anthers versatile, extrorse. Ovary 3-loculed, ovoid to oblong; ovules many per locule. Style short, apically 3-lobed, adaxially stigmatic. Fruit a loculicidal capsule. Seeds many, subglobose; testa brown, thin.

About ten species: Africa (including Madagascar), tropical Asia, Australia, Pacific Islands (New Zealand); one species in China.

(Authors: Chen Xinqi (陈心启 Chen Sing-chi); Minoru N. Tamura)