Hypoxidaceae

Flowers of Spiloxene capensis, from the Barrett Lab.

Belongs within: Petrosaviidae.

The Hypoxidaceae are a family of rhizomatous or cormous plants found mostly in the Southern Hemisphere and tropical Asia. Flowers are typically white or yellow, and peduncles are associated with two opposite subulate bracts (Healy & Edgar 1980).

Characters (from Healy & Edgar 1980): Herbs with tuberous rhizome or corm covered with membranous or fibrous sheaths. Leaves usually all basal, often with long hairs. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic, mostly white or yellow, solitary, or in spicate, racemose or subumbellate inflorescences; segments 6, subequal, free or basally connate. Stamens usually 6, inserted at base of perianth-segments; anthers often 2-lobed at base, opening by longitudinal slits. Ovary inferior, trilocular; ovules usually many, in two series on axile placenta in each locule. Fruit usually a capsule crowned by persistent perianth; dehiscence by irregular, often more or less circular slits; fruit occasionally fleshy and indehiscent. Seeds small, often black.

<==Hypoxidaceae S06
    |--Empodium RG07
    `--+--Rhodohypoxis RG07
       `--Hypoxis Linnaeus 1759 RG07, ME70 (see below for synonymy)
            |--H. hirsuta [incl. *H. erecta L. 1759] CC87
            |--H. arillacea Henderson 1987 [incl. H. hygrometrica var. elongata Benth. 1873] CC87
            |--H. aurea SS72
            |--H. dinteri CV06
            |--H. exilis Henderson 1987 CC87
            |--H. hygrometrica Labill. 1805 CC87
            |    |--H. h. var. hygrometrica CC87
            |    |--H. h. var. splendida Henderson 1987 CC87
            |    `--H. h. var. villosisepala Henderson 1987 CC87
            |--H. marginata Br. 1810 CC87
            |--H. nervosa Henderson 1987 CC87
            |--H. pratensis Br. 1810 [=H. hygrometrica var. pratensis (Br.) Benth. 1873] CC87
            |    |--H. p. var. pratensis CC87
            |    `--H. p. var. tuberculata Henderson 1987 CC87
            |--H. pusilla Kunth in H. B. & K. 1816 HE80
            `--H. wrightii J87

Hypoxidaceae incertae sedis:
  Saniella S06
  Pauridia S06
    |--P. longituba S06
    `--P. minuta S06
  Curculigo Gaertner 1788 S06, CC87 [incl. Molineria Colla 1824 CC87]
    |--*C. orchioides Gaertner 1788 CC87
    |--C. capitulata (Lour.) Kuntze 1891 DS04, CC87 (see below for synonymy)
    |--C. ensifolia Br. 1810 CC87
    |    |--C. e. var. ensifolia (see below for synonymy) CC87
    |    `--C. e. var. longifolia Benth. 1873 CC87
    `--C. latifolia K03 [=Molineria latifolia P88]
  Spiloxene Fourcade 1932 S06 (see below for synonymy)
    |--S. alba S06
    |--S. canaliculata S06
    |--S. capensis S06
    |--‘Hypoxis’ gardneri Henderson 1987 CC87
    |--‘Hypoxis’ glabella Br. 1810 [=Ianthe glabella (Br.) Williams 1901] CC87
    |    |--H. g. var. glabella (see below for synonymy) CC87
    |    `--H. g. var. leptantha (Benth.) Henderson 1987 (see below for synonymy) CC87
    |--S. nana Snijman 2006 S06
    |--‘Hypoxis’ occidentalis Benth. 1873 CC87
    |    |--H. o. var. occidentalis CC87
    |    `--H. o. var. quadriloba (Muell.) Henderson 1987 [=H. glabella var. quadriloba Muell. 1867] CC87
    |--‘Hypoxis’ ovata [=*Ianthe ovata] CC87
    |--S. pusilla Snijman 2006 S06
    |--S. scullyi S06
    |--S. serrata S06
    `--‘Hypoxis’ vaginata Schldl. 1847 CC87
         |--H. v. var. vaginata CC87
         `--H. v. var. brevistigmata Henderson 1987 CC87

Curculigo capitulata (Lour.) Kuntze 1891 DS04, CC87 [=Leucojum capitulatum Lour. 1790 CC87, Molineria capitulata (Lour.) Herbert 1837 CC87; incl. *M. plicata Colla 1824 CC87, Curculigo recurvata Aiton 1811 CC87, M. recurvata (Aiton) Herbert 1837 CC87]

Curculigo ensifolia Br. 1810 var. ensifolia [=C. ensifolia var. typica Domin 1915 (nom. inv.); incl. C. ensifolia var. albopilosa Domin 1915, C. ensifolia var. petiolata Domin 1915] CC87

Hypoxis Linnaeus 1759 RG07, ME70 [=H. subg. Euhypoxis Baker 1878 (nom. inv.) CC87, H. sect. Euhypoxis (Baker) Benth. & Hook. 1883 (nom. inv.) CC87]

‘Hypoxis’ glabella Br. 1810 var. glabella [incl. H. hookeri Geerinck 1969, H. pusilla Hooker 1858 non Kunth 1816, H. glabella var. pusilla (Hook.) Muell. ex Maiden & Betche 1916] CC87

Hypoxis glabella var. leptantha (Benth.) Henderson 1987 [=H. leptantha Benth. 1873, Ianthe leptantha (Benth.) Williams 1901] CC87

Spiloxene Fourcade 1932 S06 [incl. Ianthe Salisbury 1866 non Janthe Grisebach 1844 S06, Hypoxis subg. Ianthe Baker 1878 CC87, H. sect. Ianthe (Baker) Benth. & Hook. 1883 CC87]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[CC87] Clifford, H. T., J. G. Conran, J. B. Williams, R. J. F. Henderson, H. J. Hewson, E. M. Watson, G. J. Keighery, D. M. Churchill, I. R. H. Telford, A. Thongpukdee, N. H. Brittan, A. S. George, W. T. Stearn & T. D. Macfarlane. 1987. Liliaceae. Flora of Australia 45: 148–419.

[CV06] Craven, P., & P. Vorster. 2006. Patterns of plant diversity and endemism in Namibia. Bothalia 36 (2): 175–189.

[DS04] Davis, J. I., D. W. Stevenson, G. Petersen, O. Seberg, L. M. Campbell, J. V. Freudenstein, D. H. Goldman, C. R. Hardy, F. A. Michelangeli, M. P. Simmons, C. D. Specht, F. Vergara-Silva & M. Gandolfo. 2004. A phylogeny of the monocots, as inferred from rbcL and atpA sequence variation, and a comparison of methods for calculating jackknife and bootstrap values. Systematic Botany 29 (3): 467–510.

[HE80] Healy, A. J., & E. Edgar. 1980. Flora of New Zealand vol. 3. Adventive cyperaceous, petalous and spathaceous monocotyledons. P. D. Hasselberg, Government Printer: Wellington (New Zealand).

[J87] Judd, W. S. 1987. Floristic study of Morne La Visite and Pic Macaya National Parks, Haiti. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum—Biological Sciences 32 (1): 1–136.

[K03] Kulip, J. 2003. An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal and other useful plants of Muruts in Sabah, Malaysia. Telopea 10 (1): 81–98.

[ME70] Moore, L. B., & E. Edgar. 1970. Flora of New Zealand vol. 2. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Monocotyledones except Gramineae. A. R. Shearer, Government Printer: Wellington (New Zealand).

[P88] Polunin, I. 1988. Plants and Flowers of Malaysia. Times Editions: Singapore.

[RG07] Ramírez, S. R., B. Gravendeel, R. B. Singer, C. R. Marshall & N. E. Pierce. 2007. Dating the origin of the Orchidaceae from a fossil orchid with its pollinator. Nature 448: 1042–1045.

[SS72] Singh, V., & H. Singh. 1972. A contribution to the flora of Gangolihat block in Pithoragarh District. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 69 (2): 352–368.

[S06] Snijman, D. A. 2006. Two new species of Spiloxene (Hypoxidaceae) from the northwestern Cape, South Africa. Bothalia 36 (2): 133–138.

Last updated: 17 June 2022.