Codonorhiza is a small genus of flowering plants in the iris family, Iridaceae, within the order Asparagales. GBIF's classification places it in tribe Watsonieae of subfamily Crocoideae, the corm-forming lineage of Iridaceae that also includes genera such as Babiana, Freesia, and Watsonia. The genus is endemic to the southwestern Cape Provinces of South Africa, a region famed for its exceptional floral diversity.
Codonorhiza comprises seven species: C. azurea, C. corymbosa, C. elandsmontana, C. falcata, C. fastigiata, C. micrantha, and C. pillansii. The genus was formally circumscribed by South African Iridaceae specialists Peter Goldblatt and John C. Manning, with the description published in the SANBI journal Strelitzia (volume 35, page 88) in 2015. Several of its species carry basionyms attributed to earlier authors — including Linnaeus, Linnaeus filius, Ecklon (ex Baker), Ernst Meyer (ex Klatt), and Lamarck — indicating these species were originally described under a different generic name and only later transferred into Codonorhiza as part of Goldblatt and Manning's revision of the tribe.
As a recently segregated, narrowly endemic genus, Codonorhiza is not well documented outside specialist taxonomic literature; general reference sources currently describe it only in broad taxonomic terms rather than with detailed morphological or horticultural accounts.
Distribution
Codonorhiza is endemic to the southwestern Cape Provinces of South Africa, per both Wikipedia and GBIF occurrence/distribution data.
Taxonomy Notes
Codonorhiza belongs to family Iridaceae, order Asparagales, and (per GBIF's classification) tribe Watsonieae within subfamily Crocoideae. The genus was described by Peter Goldblatt and John C. Manning and published in Strelitzia 35: 88 (2015); several of its species bear basionyms from earlier authors (Linnaeus, Linnaeus filius, Ecklon, E. Meyer, Lamarck), indicating they were reclassified into Codonorhiza from an earlier generic placement during that 2015 revision.
