Description: Glabrous herbs with a bulbous rootstock, all subterranean parts with orange-red pigment; stem branched or unbranched.
Leaves basal and cauline grading into floral bracts; sheath open.
Inflorescence a panicle, often corymbose, or a simple or branched raceme; bracteate. Tepals 6, in 2 whorls, all free and similar or dissimilar; persistent in fruit. Stamens 3, inserted on inner tepals. Ovary inferior, tops of loculi rounded; ovules 2 per loculus.
Capsule 3-lobed; seeds discoid with membranous marginal wing.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 20 species, Australia & New Guinea. Australia: 20 species (19 species endemic), Qld, N.S.W., Tas., N.T., W.A.
Text by G. J. Harden Taxon concept:
| Key to the species | |
1 | Leaves flat, usually more than 2 mm wide | 2 |
| Leaves terete to compressed, 1–2 mm wide (sometimes broader at base) | 3 |
2 | Flowers solitary; inflorescence a narrow panicle | Haemodorum austroqueenslandicum |
| Flowers in clusters of 2–6; inflorescence a widely diverging panicle Back to 1 | Haemodorum planifolium |
3 | Flowers 4–5 mm long; flowers solitary or in few-flowered clusters | Haemodorum tenuifolium |
| Flowers 12–15 mm long; flowers in several–many-flowered clusters Back to 1 | Haemodorum corymbosum |
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