Genus: Dietes

Life > eukaryotes > Archaeoplastida > Chloroplastida > Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants) > Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants) > Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering plants) >  Monocotyledons >  Order: Asparagales >  Family: Iridaceae)

Has a strange distribution with 5 species found in southern Africa (1 of which has a distribution extending into East Africa) and 1 species found on Lord Howe Island (east of Australia). The species found on Lord Howe Island is Dietes robinsoniana and is closely related to Dietes bicolor, found in the Eastern Cape. These 2 species have primitive characters for the genus (Goldblatt & Manning 2000).

Publications

• Goldblatt, P. 1981. Systematics, phylogeny and evolution of Dietes (Iridaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 68: 132-153.

• Goldblatt, P. 1993. Iridaceae. Flora Zambesiaca 12(4): 1-106.

• Goldblatt, P. & Manning, J.C. 2000. Iridaceae. In: In: Seed Plants of Southern Africa (ed. O.A. Leistner). Strelitzia 10: 623-638. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.