Eleutherine

{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|image =Eleutherine bulbosa Urb. (7304624248).jpg

|image_caption = Eleutherine bulbosa

|display_parents = 2

|taxon = Eleutherine

|authority = Herb.Edwards's Botanical Register 29: t. 57 (1843), conserved name

|type_species = Eleutherine plicata

|type_species_authority = Herb.

|synonyms_ref =

|synonyms=

• Galatea Salisb. 1812
• Galatea Herb. 1819 name published without description
• Galatea Salisb. ex Kuntze 1891 not Salisb. 1812

}}

Eleutherine is a genus of herbaceous, perennial and bulbous plants in the family Iridaceae, first described as a genus in 1843. It is native to Latin America and the West Indies.[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=327970 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]

The genus name may be derived from the Greek word eleuthera, meaning "free".{{cite book |author1=Manning, John |author2=Goldblatt, Peter |title=The Iris Family: Natural History & Classification |publisher=Timber Press |location=Portland, Oregon|pages=240–41 |year=2008|isbn=978-0-88192-897-6}}

; Species

• Eleutherine angusta Ravenna - Paraguay, Mato Grosso do Sul
• Eleutherine bulbosa (Mill.) Urb. - West Indies, South America; naturalized in Zaire, Réunion, India, Cambodia, Vietnam
• Eleutherine citriodora (Ravenna) Ravenna - Bolivia, northern Argentina
• Eleutherine latifolia (Standl. & L.O.Williams) Ravenna - Mexico, Central America, Bolivia, northern Argentina