| # The Families of Angiosperms |

L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz

### Lanariaceae Huber ex Dahlgren

~ Tecophilaeaceae (dubiously)

Habit and leaf form. Herbs. Perennial; with a basal aggregation of leaves (the basal rosette surrounded by fibrous remains); 0.2–0.8 m high; cormous to rhizomatous (with a short, erect, woody rootstock). Leaves medium-sized to large (to 30–50 cm long); alternate; spiral, or distichous (?); flat; ‘herbaceous’ to leathery (rigid); sessile; sheathing. Leaf sheaths tubular (basally closed). Leaves probably with blades borne edgewise to the stem (? - ambiguous in published descriptions and illustrations); simple. Lamina entire; linear; closely parallel-veined. Lamina margins entire; flat.

Leaf anatomy. The leaf lamina probably bifacial (?). Hairs absent. Lamina without secretory cavities. Midrib conspicuous.

Axial (stem, wood) anatomy. The axial xylem without vessels.

Reproductive type, pollination. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite. Floral nectaries present. Nectar secretion from the gynoecium (septal).

Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in cymes and in panicles. The ultimate inflorescence units cymose. Inflorescences more or less scapiflorous; terminal; comprising dense panicles of conspicuously plumosely white-hairy, scorpioid cymes teminating the elongate scape. Flowers regular; tetracyclic. Perigone tube present (short).

Perianth persistent, of ‘tepals’ (the lobes linear); 6; basally joined (tubular); 2 whorled (the abaxially pilose lobes biseriate above the short tube); without spots; white, or pink, or purple, or white and pink; persistent. Tepal apex trichomes (TAT) present.

Androecium 6. Androecial members adnate (to the throat of the perianth tube); more or less all equal; free of one another; apparently 1 whorled. Stamens 6; isomerous with the perianth; filantherous. Anthers epipeltate, dorsifixed; versatile; small, ovate-sagittate, dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse. The initial microspore tetrads tetrahedral.

The pistil 3 celled (except apically). Gynoecium syncarpous; synovarious; partly inferior to inferior (almost inferior, shortly free above). Ovary initially 3 locular. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1 (filiform); apical. Stigmas 1; capitate. Placentation basal to axile. Ovules 2 per locule; funicled; collateral; anatropous.

Fruit non-fleshy; scarcely dehiscent to indehiscent; a capsule (sub-globose); 1 seeded (one-celled and one-seeded). Seeds endospermic. Cotyledons 1. Embryo very small. Testa encrusted with phytomelan; black.

Geography, cytology. Cape. Temperate. Southern coastal South Africa.

Taxonomy. Subclass Monocotyledonae. Dahlgren et al. Superorder Liliiflorae; Asparagales. APG III core angiosperms; Superorder Lilianae; non-commelinid Monocot. APG IV Order Asparagales.

Species 1 (Lanaria lanata). Genera 1; Lanaria.

General remarks. This unsatisfactory draft description - compiled from Bentham & Hooker, Ruddall et al. (1998), Christenhusz et al. (2017) and regional Floras - needs checking against specimens.

Illustrations. • Lanaria lanata: Marloth, Fl. of S. Africa 4 (1915). • Lanaria lanata: H.G. Robertson, www.biodiversityexplorer.org (2018). • Lanaria lanata: H.G. Robertson, www.biodiversityexplorer.org (2018). • Lanaria lanata - inflorescence trichome: Bot. Jahrb. 17 (1893).

We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, distributions of character states within any set of taxa, geographical distribution, genera included in each family, and classifications (Dahlgren; Dahlgren, Clifford, and Yeo; Cronquist; APG). See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.

Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 1992 onwards. The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 8th June 2026. delta-intkey.com’.

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