Calydorea

Calydorea
Calydorea xiphioides
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Iridaceae
Subfamily: Iridoideae
Tribe: Tigridieae
Genus: Calydorea
Herb.[1]
Type species
Calydorea speciosa
(J.D. Hooker) Herbert
Synonyms[2]
  • Botherbe Steud. ex Klatt
  • Catila Ravenna
  • Itysa Ravenna
  • Roterbe Klatt
  • Tamia Ravenna

Calydorea is a small genus of perennial, herbaceous and bulbous plants in the family Iridaceae native to Mexico and South America.[2] The plants in the genus are small with tunicated bulbs. The flowers are light blue, violet, white, or yellow, depending on the species, of which there are around twenty. Taxonomists considered that the already known genera Salpingostylis (endemic from Florida), Cardiostigma (from Mexico), Catila (from Brazil) and Itysa (from Venezuela) are not enough different from each other to justify their taxonomic segregation and, for this reason, all of them are now included in Calydorea.[3]

The genus name is derived from the Greek words caly, meaning "sheathed", and dorea, meaning "spear".[4] C. xiphioides lends its common name, tahay, to the exoplanet Gliese 367 b.[5]

Species[6]
  1. ^ Edwards's Bot. Reg. 29: 85 (1843).
  2. ^ a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  3. ^ Goldblatt, P. & J.E. Henrich. 1991. Calydorea Herbert (Iridaceae-Tigridieae): Notes on this New World genus and reduction to synonymy of Salpingostylis, Cardiostigma, Itysa and Catila. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 78: 504-511
  4. ^ Manning, John; Goldblatt, Peter (2008). The Iris Family: Natural History & Classification. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. pp. 233–35. ISBN 978-0-88192-897-6.
  5. ^ "2022 Approved Names". nameexoworlds.iau.org. IAU. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  6. ^ Royal Horticultural Society, Kew. A detailed checklist for genus Calydorea .