Mostly perennial herbs, but some woody or climbing, with bulbs, corms, rhizomes or tubers. Leaves alternate, whorled or all basal. Flowers usually in racemes or panicles, actinomorphic or slightly zygomorphic, bisexual. Perianth usually 3-merous, usually petaloid and in 2 whorls. Stamens in 2 whorls. Ovary superior; styles 1 or 3. Ovules usually numerous. Fruit a capsule or berry. Worldwide: 288 genera and 4,950 species, cosmopolitan. Britain: 1 cultivated genus and 0 cultivated taxa. |
No image of a cultivated species but there is an image of a native or naturalised species
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