[1] It contains plants which are widely distributed in the Old World, mainly in Africa, but there are species like some members of the genera Romulea and Gladiolus which are native to Europe and Asia.

[2] Like the rest of Iridaceae, the members of the subfamily have the typical sword-shaped leaves.

The nectar is produced mostly in the base of the bloom from the glands of the ovary, which is where the flower forms a tube-like end.

[citation needed] The ovary is 3-locular and many-seeded, the appearance of the testa varying widely between the different genera: sometimes fine and delicate, as in the case of Gladiolus and at others black and hard, as in the case of Babiana.

[citation needed] Many genera of this group furnish species numbered among the most familiar ornamental plants to be grown in the open garden or in containers, some good examples being Freesia, Ixia, Crocosmia and Gladiolus.