Annual or perennial herbs, mostly bulbous. Leaves radical or cauline, alternate or in a cluster, digitately 3-foliolate (in
ours). Flowers actinomorphic, solitary or subtended by bracts in pseudumbels or cymes. Petals contorted, unguiculate. Stamens 10 in 2 rows. Capsule loculicidally dehiscent.
Worldwide: 700 species, cosmopolitan but concentrated in S America and the Cape