Contemporary Circumscription Compared with A Utah Flora 4th ed.

Bio430

Liliaceae

Liliaceae is defined much more broadly in A Utah Flora than in most modern treatments of this family.

Key Features

Synoecious perennial herbs from rhizomes, bulbs, or corms. Leaves are mostly basal (sometimes cauline), simple, alternate, linear, entire, and somewhat sheathing. Most are seasonal, with the leaves and flowers appearing in springtime and then withering during summer to rest over fall and winter below ground. The showy flowers are distinctly 3-merous, with 3+3 tepals, 6 stamens, and a superior ovary of 3 fused carpels. Many families segregated from Liliaceae, such as Alliaceae (onions) have this same floral plan, but recognizing the pattern (3,3,6,3) is still useful for recognizing the Liliaceae and its many segregate families.