hemerocalleæ

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. A tribe of monocotyledonous plants, of the natural order Liliaceæ, distinguished by the cylindrical, funnelform, or campanulate perianth, and the numerous leaves crowded on the short rhizome or base of the stem. The fruit is a capsule, generally loculicidally dehiscent. The tribe includes 6 genera, of which Hemerocallis is the type; they are perennial herbs, with large flowers in variously shaped clusters, raised on a tall, mostly leafiess scape, and are natives of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Phormium tenax, of New Zealand, yields the famous New Zealand flax.