Asparagaceae

Asparagaceae
Asparagus officinalis in flower
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae (unranked): Angiosperms (unranked): Monocots Order: Asparagales Family: Asparagaceae Juss. (1789)
genera
Asparagus Hemiphylacus

Asparagaceae is the botanical name of a family of flowering plants. Such a family has been recognized by quite a few taxonomists, but hardly universally: often the plants involved are treated as belonging to the family Liliaceae.

The APG II system, of 2003 also recognizes this family and places it in the order Asparagales, in the clade monocots. APG II allows two options as to circumscription of the family:

• Asparagaceae sensu lato ("in the wider sense"), that is including all the plants listed in the second option.
• Asparagaceae sensu stricto ("in the strict sense"), consisting of very few genera (notably Asparagus, also Hemiphylacus), but nevertheless totalling a few hundred species. This circumscription assumes that the following are recognized as separate:

• family Agavaceae
• family Aphyllanthaceae
• family Hesperocallidaceae
• family Hyacinthaceae
• family Laxmanniaceae
• family Ruscaceae
• family Themidaceae

These families were also recognized in the APG system, of 1998, except families Hesperocallidaceae and Ruscaceae which are 'new'. Relatively few publications have adopted the APG II's broader circumscription of Asparagaceae, with most adopting the narrower circumscription and recognizing the segregate families.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Asparagaceae

• Asparagaceae [sensu stricto] in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval. Version: 27 April 2006. http://delta-intkey.com
• Liliaceae in Flora of North America
• NCBI Taxonomy Browser [Asparagaceae sensu stricto]
• links at CSDL, Texas