Habit: Plant non-flowering for several years, stalk dying after fruiting; rhizome woody, tuber-like.
Stem: stout, simple, leafy.
Leaf: persistent, wiry, tough, grass-like, strongly scabrous.
Inflorescence: raceme, dense, +- club-shaped, longer (to 50 cm) in fruit.
Flower: perianth parts free, oblong to ovate, persistent, +- white to cream, 5--7-veined; filaments wider at base, anthers attached near middle; style short, stigmas thread-like.
Fruit: 3-angled, loculicidal.
Seed: 9--18, oblong, 3-angled, black.
Species In Genus: 2 species: North America.
Etymology: (Greek: dry leaf, from tough, persistent leaves)
Jepson eFlora Author: Dale W. McNeal
Reference: Fay et al. 2006 Aliso 22:559--565
Unabridged Reference: Fay, M. F., et al. 2006 Phylogenetics of Liliales: summarized evidence from combined analysis of five plastid and one mitochondrial loci. Aliso 22:559--565Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)
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