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Geosiris aphylla Baillon 1890, sometimes called the "earth-iris", is an unusual species in the iris family Iridaceae. Native to Madagascar and other islands in the Indian Ocean, it is a small mycotrophic saprophyte lacking chlorophyll. It is the sole member of the genus.
Its rhizomes are slender and scaly, and stems are simple or branched. The leaves are alternate, but having no use, are reduced and scale-like. The flowers are light purple.
In 1939, Jonker assigned Geosiris to its own family Geosiridaceae in Orchidales, and this was adopted in the Cronquist system, with a note that the family was closely related to Iridaceae or Burmanniaceae. The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group has since subsumed the family into Iridaceae.
References
- F. P. Jonker, "Les Géosiridacées, une nouvelle famille de Madagascar" Recueil Trav. Bot. Néerl. 36:473-179
- Arthur Cronquist, An Integrated Systems of Classification of Flowering Plants (Columbia University Press, 1981) p.1236
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