Family Strelitziaceae
Description: Herbs or trees.
Leaves distichously arranged, often big.
Flowers bisexual, arranged in the axil of a spathe; sepals 3, free or more or less adnate to the corolla; petals 3, variously connate, sometimes very unequal in size; stamens 5(6), sometimes the 6th is petaloid; anthers linear, 2-locular with parallel loculi; ovary inferior, 3-locular, with 1–many ovules; style filiform.
Fruit a capsule, lociulicidally 3-valved [or indehiscent]; seeds arillate [or not].
Distribution and occurrence: World: 3 genera, 1 each in southern Africa, Madagascar and Brazil. Australia: 1 genus naturalised.
External links:
Angiosperm Phylogeny Website (Family: Strelitziaceae, Order: Zingiberales)
Wikipedia Commonly cultivated as ornamentals.
Text by KL Wilson (Nov 2015)
Taxon concept:
| One genus in NSW: Strelitzia |
|
