Genus: Dietes Life
> eukaryotes >
Archaeoplastida >
Chloroplastida
>
Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants)
> Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants)
> Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering
plants) > Monocotyledons > Order: Asparagales
> Family: Iridaceae
Has a strange distribution with five species native to
southern Africa (one of which has a distribution extending into East Africa) and
one
species found on Lord Howe Island (east of Australia). The species found on Lord
Howe Island is Dietes robinsoniana and is closely related to Dietes
bicolor, found in the Eastern Cape. These two species have primitive
characters for the genus (Goldblatt & Manning 2000).
Species native to southern Africa
List from
Plants
of Southern Africa - an Online Checklist (SANBI).
Publications
-
Goldblatt, P. 1981. Systematics, phylogeny and
evolution of Dietes (Iridaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical
Garden 68: 132-153.
-
Goldblatt, P. 1993. Iridaceae. Flora
Zambesiaca 12(4): 1-106.
-
Goldblatt, P. & Manning, J.C. 2000.
Iridaceae. In: In: Seed Plants of
Southern Africa (ed. O.A. Leistner). Strelitzia 10: 623-638.
National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
|