Asphodelus L., Sp. Pl. 1. 309. 1753; Gen. Pl. 5: 146. 1754; Boiss., Fl. Or. 5: 313. 1882; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 6: 332. 1894; Richardson in Tutin et al. Fl. Europ. 5: 17. 1980; Starley & Utech, Fl. North Amer. @ eFloras.org 26: 218; Ali, Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 4.

Herbs, annual, biennial or perennial, with short rhizomes, roots fleshy or cylindrical, scapose. Leaves many, basal; blade linear, cylindrical, entire, base membranous, sheathing. Inflorescence a raceme or panicle, many-flowered, bracteate, bracts persistent, narrowly lanceolate, scarious. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic, hypogynous. Pedicels articulated. Tepals 6, erect or spreading, free or connate basally, equal, each with a prominent vein, white or pale pink. Stamens 6, free, subequal, shorter than tepals; filaments expanded at base; anthers dorsifixed. Ovary 3-locular, 1 or 2 ovules per loculus, septal nectaries present; style 1; stigma weakly 3-lobed. Fruit capsular, globose, hard, dehiscence loculicidal. Seeds 3 or 6, black, angled.

18 species

Asphodelus tenuifolius Cav., Anal. Cienc. Nat. 3: 46. 1801; Boiss., Fl. Or. 5: 314. 1882; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 6: 332. 1894; Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bomb. 3: 279. 1958 (Reprinted ed.); Collett, Fl. Siml. ed. 2: 348. 1921 (Reprint 1980); Sharma & Kachroo, Fl. Jammu (Illustr.) 2: t. 272. 1983; Kaur & Sharma, Fl. Sirmaur 609. 2004; Singh & Sharma, Fl. Chamba Dist. 681. 2006; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 4; A. fistulosus var. tenuifolius (Cav.) Baker, J. Linn. Soc. Bot. 15: 272. 1876.

Annual herb, 15-70 cm tall. Rhizome short with many fleshy roots. Leaves in basal rosette, 10-30 cm x 2-5 mm, linear, +/- terete, fistular, base sheathing, finely scabrid. Inflorescence racemes on scapes; scapes many from base, 30-70 cm long, erect, solid, usually much branched distally, glabrous, minutely scabrid in lower part; racemes usually laxly flowered; bracts ca. 2.5 mm long, basally ovate or ovate-lanceolate, scarious with a brownish keel, acuminate; pedicels 4-6 mm long, articulated below middle. Flowers white to pale pink, 1-1.5 cm across, bisexual, actinomorphic, hypogynous, trimerous. Tepals 6, free or connate basally, spreading, 5-6 mm long, oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, each with a prominent vein. Stamens 6, free, subequal; filaments 3-3.5 cm long, fusiform below anthers and dilated towards base over ovary; anthers 1-1.5 mm long, dorsifixed, dehiscence longitudinal. Carpels 3, syncarpous; ovary superior, 3-locular, usually 2 ovules per loculus; style ca. 2 mm long; stigma subcapitate, minutely 3-lobed. Capsules 3-4 mm in diameter, globose or faintly trigonous, wrinkled, hard, dehiscence loculicidal. Seeds 3-6, ca. 3 mm in diameter, sharply trigonous, black, transversely rugose.

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