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lily family

 

n.
A large family of plants, the Liliaceae, characterized by showy flowers with six perianth segments, six stamens, and a superior ovary and usually producing bulbs or rhizomes.


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Family Liliaceae (order Liliales), which contains about 635 species of flowering herbs and shrubs in 16 genera. The genus Lilium includes the true lilies. Native primarily to temperate and subtropical regions, these monocots (see cotyledon) usually have six-segmented flowers, three-chambered capsular fruits, and leaves with parallel veins. Among the oldest cultivated plants, true lilies are erect perennials with leafy stems, scaly bulbs, usually narrow leaves, and solitary or clustered flowers, some quite fragrant, in a variety of colours. Most species store nutrients underground in a bulb, corm, or tuber. Important garden ornamentals in the family include Solomon's seal, tulip, and fritillary. In addition, some tulip species and some members of the genus Lilium may be eaten.

For more information on lily family, visit Britannica.com.


The lily family, with about 240 genera and 3,000 species. It includes medicinal plants such as the aloe, edible plants like the onion, and, of course, the garden lily, among other ornamental bulbs.

Lily Family
Temporal range: 58–0 Ma
Early Paleogene - Recent
Lilium martagon
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Liliales
Family: Liliaceae
Genera

The Liliaceae, or the lily family, is a family of monocotyledons in the order Liliales. Plants in this family have linear leaves, mostly with parallel veins but with several having net venation (e.g., Cardiocrinum, Clintonia, Medeola, Prosartes, Scoliopus, Tricyrtis), and flower arranged in threes. Several have bulbs, while others have rhizomes. Shade-dwelling genera usually have broad, net-veined leaves, fleshy fruits with animal-dispersed seeds, rhizomes, and small, inconspicuous flowers; genera native to sunny habitats usually have narrow, parallel-veined leaves, capsular fruits with wind-dispersed seeds, bulbs, and large, visually conspicuous flowers.

Many plants in the Liliaceae are important ornamental plants, widely grown for their attractive flowers. Many species are poisonous if eaten and may cause serious complications, such as renal failure, in household pets, especially cats.

The lily family was formerly a paraphyletic "catch-all" group that included a great number of genera now included in other families, and some in other orders, including Agavaceae, Alliaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Asparagaceae, Asphodelaceae, Hyacinthaceae, Melanthiaceae, Nartheciaceae, Ruscaceae, Smilacaceae , Tecophilaeaceae, Themidaceae, Tofieldiaceae, and Uvulariaceae, and members of the monocot orders Asparagales, Dioscoreales, and Alismatales. Smilacaceae appears to be the family most closely related to Liliaceae.

The genus Calochortus, which includes the sego and mariposa lilies, and its allied genera are separated into a separate family Calochortaceae in some schemes, while others maintain them as a subfamily of Liliaceae, the Calochortoideae.

It is estimated that the family evolved 58 million years ago during the Early Paleogene.

Contents

Genera

The list below includes genera that have historically been classified in family Liliaceae. Monocot classification has undergone considerable revision in recent years, and some newer systems, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group's APG III classification system, have assigned many of these genera to different families based on genetic relationships. APG III transfers to other families (including subfamilies and, where it applies, orders) are listed in brackets.

Changes in APG III

The genus list above is based on the APG II system. When the APG III system was published in 2009, the families Xanthorrhoeaceae, Amaryllidaceae, and Asparagaceae, were greatly expanded. [1] Thirteen of the families of APG II were thereby reduced to subfamilies. The APG II families and their equivalent APG III subfamilies are as follows:

Gallery

References

  1. ^ Mark W. Chase, James L. Reveal, and Michael F. Fay. "A subfamilial classification for the expanded asparagalean families Amaryllidaceae, Asparagaceae and Xanthorrhoeaceae". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 161(2):132–136.

Sources

  • APG. 1998. An ordinal classification for the families of flowering plants. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Gardens 85: 531-553.
  • APG II. 2003. An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders of flowering plants: APG II. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 141: 399-436.
  • Chase, M. W., M. R. Duvall, H. G. Hills, J. G. Conran, A. V. Cox, L. E. Eguiarte, J. Hartwell, M. F. Fay, L. R.Caddick, K. M. Cameron, and S. Hoot. 1995. Molecular phylogenetics of Lilianae. Pp. 109-137 in P. J. Rudall, P. J. Cribb, D. F. Cutler, and C. J. Humphries (editors), Monocotyledons: systematics and evolution. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Chase, M. W., M. F. Fay, D. Devey, O. Maurin, N. Rønsted, J. Davies, Y. Pillon, G. Petersen, O. Seberg, M. N. Tamura, C. B. Asmussen, K. Hilu, T. Borsch, J. I. Davis, D. W. Stevenson, J. C. Pires, T. J. Givnish, K. J. Sytsma, M. A. McPherson, S. W. Graham, and Rai, H. S. 2006. Multigene analyses of monocot relationships: a summary. Pp. 63-75 in J. T. Columbus, E. A. Friar, J. M. Porter, L. M. Prince, and M. G. Simpson, M. G. (eds), Monocots: comparative biology and evolution (excluding Poales). Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden, Claremont, Ca. [Aliso 22: 63-75.]
  • Dahlgren, R. M. T., H. T. Clifford, and P. F. Yeo. 1985. The families of monocotyledons. - Springer-Verlag. Berlin, Germany.
  • Givnish, T. J., J. C. Pires, S. W. Graham, M. A. McPherson, L. M. Prince, T. B. Patterson, H. S. Rai, E. R. Roalson, T. M. Evans, W. J Hahn, K. C. Millam, A. W. Meerow, M. Molvray, P. Kores, H. E. O’Brien, W. J. Kress, J. Hall, and K. J. Sytsma. 2005. Repeated evolution of net venation and fleshy fruits among monocots in shaded habitats confirms a priori predictions: evidence from an ndhF phylogeny. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 272: 1481-1490.
  • Givnish, T. J., J. C. Pires, S. W. Graham, M. A. McPherson, L. M. Prince, T. B. Patterson, H. S. Rai, E. R. Roalson, T. M. Evans, W. J Hahn, K. C. Millam, A. W. Meerow, M. Molvray, P. Kores, H. E. O’Brien, W. J. Kress, J. Hall, and K. J. Sytsma. 2006. Phylogeny of the monocotyledons based on the highly informative plastid gene ndhF: evidence for widespread concerted convergence. Pp. 28-51 in J. T. Columbus, E. A. Friar, J. M. Porter, L. M. Prince, and M. G. Simpson (eds.) Monocots: comparative biology and evolution (excluding Poales). Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont, CA.
  • Graham, S. W., J. M. Zgurski, M. A. McPherson, D. M. Cherniawsky, J. M. Saarela, E. F. C. Horne, S. Y. Smith, W. A. Wong, H. E. O'Brien, V. L. Biron, J. C. Pires, R. G. Olmstead, M. W. Chase, and H. S. Rai. 2006. Robust inference of monocot deep phylogeny using an expanded multigene plastid data set. Pp. 3-21 in J. T. Columbus, E. A. Friar, J. M. Porter, L. M. Prince, and M. G. Simpson, M. G. (eds), Monocots: comparative biology and evolution (excluding Poales). Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden, Claremont, Ca. [Aliso 22: 3-21.]
  • Kelch, D. G. 2000. What happened to the lily family? Pacific Horticulture 61:76-79.
  • Kubitzki, K. (Editor) 1998: The families and genera of vascular plants, Vol.3. Springer-Verlag. Berlin, Germany. ISBN 3-540-64060-6
  • Patterson, T. B., and T. J. Givnish. 2002. Phylogeny, concerted convergence, and phylogenetic niche conservatism in the core Liliales: insights from rbcL and ndhF sequence data. Evolution 56: 233-252.
  • Rønsted, N., S. Law, H. Thornton, M. F. Fay, and M. W. Chase. 2005. Molecular phylogenetic evidence for the monophyly of Fritillaria and Lilium (Liliaceae; Liliales) and the infrageneric classification of Fritillaria. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 35: 509-527.
  • Vinnersten, A., and K. Bremer. 2001. Age and biogeography of major clades in Liliales. American Journal of Botany 88: 1695-1703.
  • Zomlefer, W. B., N. H. Williams, W. M. Whitten, and W. S. Judd. 2001. Generic circumscription and relationships in the tribe Melanthieae (Liliales, Melanthiaceae), with emphasis on Zigadenus: evidence from ITS and trnL-F sequence data. American Journal of Botany 88: 1657-1669.

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American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
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