Glaxia Thunberg, Gen. pl. nov. 50. 1782; Homeria Ventenat, Dec. gen. nov. no. 2. 1808; Hexaglottis Ventenat, Dec. gen. nov. no. 3. 1808; Gynandriris Parlatore, Nuov. gen. sp. 49. 1854; Wendelbo & B. Mathew in Rech. f., Fl. Iran. 112: 11. 1975; Goldblatt in Bot. Notiser 133: 254. 1980; B. Mathew, Iris (rev. ed.) 181. 1989; Barnardiella, Goldblatt in Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 63: 312. 1976; Roggeveldia Goldblatt in Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 66: 840. 1979.
Seasonal perenials. Corms rooting apically with fibrous or woody and unbroken tunics. Leaf bifacial, flat to channelled, or sometimes terete, 1-many. Flowering stems branched, branches few to many, sometimes unbranched, sometimes with 1 long areal internode with inflorescence and leaves crowded at the apex or entirely underground. Flowers long lived or fugaceous; mainly yellow to white; tepals free or united, clawed, unequal to subequal, spreading to reflexed or inner erect. Filaments united, entirely or partly or occasionally free; anthers appressed to style branches. Ovary occasionally beaked; style branches usually broad or flat, wider than the anther, ending in large paired crests; stigma terminal, divided or undivided and extending between the stamens. Capsule globose to obconic or oblong, occasionally beaked. Seeds discoid or angular; testa sometimes spongy.
A genus with c. 200 species, distributed in sub-Saharan Africa and concentrated in S.W. Cape and Drakensberg Mountains, 2 species in Eurasia. In Pakistan it is represented by only one species.
The generic concepts of Moraea P. Miller, has recently been revised by Goldblatt (Novon 8 (4): 371-377. 1998; in Kubitzki, K. (ed.) Fam. Gen. Vasc. Pl. 326. 1998), who, having merged 6 genera, in Moraea, has considerably broadened the generic concept. He has been lead to this conclusion by the morphological cladistic analysis and DNA sequence data.
