Common Name: ONION or GARLIC FAMILY
Habit: Perennial herb; bulb 1 or on rhizomes, reforming each year; bulblets at bulb bases or on rhizomes; outer bulb coat brown, red-brown, yellow-brown, or gray; inner coats generally white (pink, red, or yellow); onion odor, taste present (except Nothoscordum). Stem: scapose, cylindric, sometimes flat or triangular. Leaf: basal, sheathing stem, linear [or not], cylindric, channeled or flat, generally +- withering from tip by flowering. Inflorescence: umbel (1-flowered in Ipheion), bracts generally 2, splitting and appearing 2+ or not, +- fused, enclosing flower buds, scarious. Flower: perianth parts 6 in 2 petal-like whorls, +- free to fused in lower 1/3--1/2; stamens 6, fused to perianth, filaments widened at base, anthers attached at middle; ovary superior, 3-lobed, chambers 3, ovules 2+ per chamber, style 1, stigma entire or +- 3-lobed. Fruit: capsule, loculicidal. Seed: black, sculpture net-like, smooth, or granular.
Genera In Family: 13 genera, 750--800 species: worldwide. Note: Many cultivated for food, ornamental.
eFlora Treatment Author: Dale W. McNeal
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.

Common Name: STAR FLOWER
Habit: Perennial herb from deep, membrane-coated bulb, onion odor present. Leaf: several, basal, unkeeled. Inflorescence: scapose; flowers 1; bracts 2, fused at base. Flower: showy; perianth parts fused in lower 1/2, lobes spreading, +- equal; anthers attached at middle; style thread-like, stigma +- 3-lobed. Fruit: capsule.
Etymology: (Greek: origin obscure)
eFlora Treatment Author: Dale W. McNeal