| Xyridaceae | |
|---|---|
| Xyris complanata flower close-up | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| (unranked): | Commelinids |
| Order: | Poales |
| Family: | Xyridaceae |
| Genus: | Xyris L.[1] |
| species | |
|
see text |
|
Xyris is the botanical name of a genus of flowering plants in the Yellow-eyed-grass family. The genus counts over two hundred fifty species, with the center of distribution in the Guianas.
The leaves are mostly distichous, linear, flat and thin or round with a conspicuous sheath at the base. They are arranged in a basal aggregation. The small, yellow flowers are dioecious, borne on a spherical or cylindrical spike or head (inflorescence). Each flower grows from the axil of a leathery bract. The fruit is a non-fleshy, dehiscent capsule. In Xyris complanata a single flower bud on the spike appears in the morning, and expands into a conspicuous flower during the afternoon hours.
The APG II system, of 2003, places the genus in family Xyridaceae, in to the order Poales in the clade commelinids, in the monocots.