FLORA OF AUSTRALIA Volume 46 Iridaceae to Dioscoreaceae This volume was published before the Commonwealth Government moved to Creative Commons Licensing. © Commonwealth of Australia 1986. This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use within your organisation. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced or distributed by any process or stored in any retrieval system or data base without prior written permission from the copyright holder. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to:
[email protected] FLORA OF AUSTRALIA The nine families in this volume of the Flora of Australia are Iridaceae, Aloeaceae, Agavaceae, Xanthorrhoeaceae, Hanguan- aceae, Taccaceae, Stemonaceae, Smilacaceae and Dioscoreaceae. The Xanthorrhoeaceae has the largest representation with 10 genera and 99 species. Most are endemic with a few species of Lomandra and Romnalda extending to neighbouring islands. The family includes the spectacular blackboys and grass-trees. The Iridaceae is largely represented by naturalised species with 52 of the 78 species being introduced. Many of the introductions are ornamentals and several have become serious weeds. Patersonia is the largest genus with all 17 species endemic. Some of these are cultivated as ornamentals. The Dioscoreaccae is a family of economic significance, particularly in the old world tropics where some species are cultivated or collected for their tubers and bulbils. In Australia there are 5 species, one of which is a recent introduction. The endemic and native species, commonly known as yams, are traditionally eaten by the Aborigines.