Liliaceae

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, and flower parts in threes.

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Many plants in the Liliaceae are important ornamental plants, widely grown for their attractive flowers. Many plants in the family are poisonous if eaten. A floral pattern said to be based on a lily or lily-like flower is used in heraldry; see Fleur-de-lis.

The Lily family was formerly a paraphyletic "catch-all" group that included a great number of genera that are now included in other families, and some in other orders, such as Agavaceae, Alliaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Anthericaceae s.s., Asparagaceae, Asphodelaceae, Convallariaceae, Hyacinthaceae, Melanthiaceae, Nartheciaceae, Smilacaceae , Tecophilaeaceae, Themidaceae, Tofieldiaceae, Trilliaceae and Uvulariaceae.

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.

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 2 classification system, have assigned many of these genera to different families based on genetic relationships. The APG 2 families are listed in brackets.

References

• Dahlgren, R.M.T., H.T. Clifford, and P.F. Yeo. 1985. The Families of Monocotyledons. - Springer-Verlag. Berlin, Germany.
• 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; in Monocotyledons: Systematics and Evolution.
• 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