Xeronema

{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{More footnotes needed|date=October 2017}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Xeronema moorii 136-8342.jpg |image_caption = Xeronema moorei |parent_authority = M.W.Chase, Rudall & M.F.Fay<ref name=ChaseEtAl /> |taxon = Xeronema |authority = Brongn. & Gris<ref name=BrongGris /> |type_species = ''Xeronema moorei'' |type_species_authority = Brongn. & Gris<ref name=BrongGris /> |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = *''Xeronema callistemon'' *''Xeronema moorei'' |range_map = Map-Xeronemataceae.PNG |range_map_caption = Xeronema distribution map |synonyms_ref = <ref>[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/synonomy.do?name_id=291475 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]</ref> |synonyms = ''Scleronema'' <small>Brongn. & Gris 1864 not Benth. 1862</small> }}

'''''Xeronema''''' is a genus of flowering plants containing two species, ''Xeronema moorei'' from New Caledonia, and ''Xeronema callistemon'' (the Poor Knights lily) from the Poor Knights Islands and Taranga Island in New Zealand. The plants are herbaceous monocots, spreading by rhizomes, and have large flowers set on terminal spikes, with stamens towering above the flowers.

The type species ''X. moorei'' is found in the mountains of New Caledonia.

The Poor Knights lily (''X. callistemon'') is endemic to the Poor Knights Islands and Taranga Island in the north of New Zealand. It was discovered in 1924. The Poor Knights lily has large bottlebrush flower clusters that grow horizontally. The clusters begin growing vertically and then bend sideways. Bright red flowers grow upward from the stalk, with bright orange pollen. The plant can reach a height of one metre tall and across.

The APG IV system, of 2016, accepts this genus as constituting its own family '''Xeronemataceae'''. It places this in the order Asparagales, in the clade monocots.<ref name = APG4 /> The family can be separated from other Asparagales families on DNA evidence; it is related to Asphodelaceae but differs in having uniformly unifacial leaves like Iridaceae.<ref name=ChaseEtAl />

==References== {{Reflist|31em|refs=

<ref name = APG4>{{Cite journal|author=Angiosperm Phylogeny Group|year=2016|title=An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG IV|journal=Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=181 |issue=1 |pages=1–20 |issn=0024-4074 |doi=10.1111/boj.12385 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

<ref name=ChaseEtAl>{{cite journal |vauthors=Chase MW, Rudall PJ, Fay MF |title=Xeronemataceae, a new family of asparagoid lilies from New Caledonia and New Zealand |journal=Kew Bulletin |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=865–870 |date=2000 |doi=10.2307/4113631 |jstor=4113631|bibcode=2000KewBu..55..865C }}</ref>

<ref name=BrongGris>{{cite journal |vauthors=Brongniart A, Gris A |title=Sur un nouveau genre de Liliacées |journal=Bulletin de la Société botanique de France |volume=11 |pages=316–317 |date=1864 |issue=9 |doi=10.1080/00378941.1864.10827371 |doi-access=free |bibcode=1864BSBF...11..316B |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/561211#page/323/mode/1up}}</ref>

}}

==External links== * ''Endémia: Faune & Flore de Nouvelle-Calédonie'', URL: [http://www.endemia.nc/plante/fiche.php?code=116 ''Xeronema moorei''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310225257/http://www.endemia.nc/plante/fiche.php?code=116 |date=10 March 2007 }} * ''New Zealand Plant Conservation Network'', URL: [http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.asp?ID=706 ''Xeronema callistemon f. callistemon''], retrieved 3 October 2010. * ''New Zealand Plant Conservation Network'', URL: [http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.asp?ID=705 ''Xeronema callistemon f. bracteosa''], retrieved 3 October 2010. * ''Strange Wonderful Things.com'', URL: [http://www.strangewonderfulthings.com/120.htm The Poor Knight's lily]

Category:Asparagales genera Category:Xeronemataceae Category:Flora of New Zealand Category:Taxa named by Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart Category:Taxa named by Jean Antoine Arthur Gris