Infl. a terminal raceme on a lfless, us. simple peduncle. Fls small, white or yellow, ∞, ± densely crowded, each in the axil of a bract; pedicel articulated us. just below fl. Per. persistent; segs almost free, subequal, 1-nerved. Stamens 6, hypogynous or attached to per.-bases; filaments glab., filiform or slightly flattened; anthers dorsifixed, versatile, introrse. Ovary subglobose, 3-locular, each locule with 2 erect collateral ovules; style cylindric, erect, stigma narrow-capitate. Capsule loculicidal. Seeds dark, sts narrowly winged. Tufted herbs perennating by a group of ± fleshy roots. Lvs produced annually from crown; lamina filiform to strap-shaped, often concave adaxially, sts ± fleshy; sheath membr., its nerves us. thickened to form persistent setose or reticulate fibres surrounding base of next season's lvs, but not so in N.Z. spp. Some 20 spp., the 6 N.Z. spp. endemic and apparently the only representatives outside Africa.