Libertia is made up of herbaceous or evergreenperennials growing from short rhizomes,[2] with simple, linear or narrowly lanceolate basal leaves which are often green but may be red, orange, or yellow under direct sunlight.[5] The showy white or blue trimerous flowers are open in spring and are followed by capsules opening by three valves which contain the numerous seeds.[6]
The genus was named after the Belgian botanist Marie-Anne Libert[7] (1782–1865) (also referred to as Anne-Marie Libert).[8]
Numerous names have been coined using the name Libertia, referring to species that are now regarded as better suited to other genera (BromusCardiocrinumHostaOrthrosanthus).
Libertia has a high rate of polyploidy, with 9/11 of assessed species confirmed as polyploid and only 3 confirmed as diploid.[3] This is not unprecedented, with polyploidy being a common feature in the tribe Sisyrinchieae.[13] The uniform base number of x=19[13] is, however, defining within the tribe. This base number is not found elsewhere in the tribe and only Diplarrhena and Solenomelus have uniform base numbers intragenerically.[13]
Due to numerous issues with this study, authors found the sample, identified as Libertia ixioides (New Zealand endemic) but collected from Chile, to have 72 chromosomes present.[22] This was most likely a misidentification of Libertia chilensis, with a further error in counting.
Samples from the Juan Fernandez Islands were found to have 114 chromosomes, in comparison to the 76 found on the mainland.[21]
Due to the difficulty in counting chromosomes, authors found between 220 and 230 chromosomes in different counts, with 228 being the average count.[15]
^Goldblatt; Henrich; Keating, Peter; James; Richard (1989). "Seed morphology of Sisyrinchium (Iridaceae-Sisyrinchieae) and its allies". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 76 (4): 1109–1117. doi:10.2307/2399695. JSTOR2399695.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Manning, John; Goldblatt, Peter (2008). The Iris Family: Natural History & Classification. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. pp. 215–16. ISBN978-0-88192-897-6.
^McQueen, D.R. (1992). "Disjunction of tree species in mountain forests, southern North Island, New Zealand: a review of paleobotanical evidence". Pacific Science. 46 (2): 269–275.
^ abSanders; Stuessy; Rodriguez, R.W.; T.F.; R. (1983). "Chromosome numbers from the flora of the Juan Fernandez Islands". American Journal of Botany. 70 (6): 799–810. doi:10.2307/2442929. JSTOR2442929.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)