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LILIACEAE
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LILIACEAE , in See also:botany, a natural See also:order of Monocotyledons belonging to the See also:series Liliiflorae, and generally regarded as representing the typical order of Monocotyledons. The See also:plants See also:art generally perennial herbs growing from a bulb or rhizome, sometimes shrubby as in See also:butcher's See also:broom (Ruscus) or See also:tree-like as in See also:species of See also:Dracaena, See also:Yucca or See also:Aloe. The See also:flowers are with few exceptions hermaphrodite, and See also:regular with parts in threes (fig. 5), the perianth which is generally peta- loid occupying the two See also:outer whorls, followed by two whorls of stamens, with a See also:superior ovary of three carpels in the centre of the See also:flower; the ovary is generally three-cham- See also:Saffron (See also:Colchicum tached along the See also:axile placentas (see autumnale) dehisc- See also:middle See also:line—axile fig. 2). The See also:fruit is a See also:ing along the septa. placentation. See also:capsule splitting along the septa (septicidal) (fig. x), or between them (loculicidal), or a See also:berry (fig. 6, 3); the seeds contain a small embryo in a copious fleshy or cartilaginous endosperm. Liliaceae is one of the larger orders of flowering plants containing about 2500 species in 200 genera; it is of See also:world-wide See also:distribution. The plants show See also:great diversity in vegetative structure, which together with the See also:character and mode of dehiscence of the fruit afford a basis for the subdivision of the order into tribes, eleven of which are recognized. The following are the most important tribes. Melanthoideae.—The plants have a rhizome or corm, and the fruit is a capsule. It contains 36 genera, many of which are See also:north temperate and three are represented in See also:Britain, viz. Tofieldia, an See also:arctic and alpine genus of small herbs with a slender scape springing from a tuft of narrow ensiform leaves and bearing a raceme of small See also:green flowers; Narthecium (See also:bog-See also:asphodel), herbs with a See also:habit similar to Tofieldia, but with larger See also:golden-yellow flowers; and Colchicum, a genus with about 30 species includin b the meadow saffron or autumn See also:crocus (C. autumnale). Colchicum illustrate§ the corm-development which is rare in Liliaceae though See also:common in the allied order See also:Iridaceae; a corm is formed by swelling at the See also:base of the See also:axis (See also:figs. 3, 4', and persists after the flowers and leaves, bearing next See also:season's plant as a lateral shoot in the axil of a See also:scale-See also:leaf at its base. See also:Gloriosa, well known in cultivation, climbs by means of its tendril-like leaf-tips; it has handsome flowers with decurved See also:orange-red or yellow petals; it is a native of tropical See also:Asia and See also:Africa. See also:Veratrum is an alpine genus of the north temperate See also:zone.
Asphodeloideae.—The plants generally
have a rhizome bearing See also:radical leaves, as
in asphodel, rarely a See also:stem with a tuft of
leaves as in Aloe, very rarely a tuber
(Eriospermum) or bulb (See also:Bow-See also:tea). The
flowers are See also:borne in a terminal raceme,
the anthers open introrsely and the fruit
is a capsule, very rarely, as in Dianella, a
berry. It contains 64 genera. Asphodelus
(asphodel) is a Mediterranean genus;
Simethis, a slender See also:herb with grassy
radical leaves, is a native of See also:west and
See also:southern See also:Europe extending into See also:south See also:Ireland. Anthericum
and Chlorophytum, herbs with radical often grass-like leaves and
sc.-Apes bearing a more or less branched inflorescence of small
generally See also: Allioideae.—The plants grow from a bulb or See also:short rhizome; the inflorescence is an apparent umbel formed of several shortened monochasial cymes and subtended by a pair of large bracts. It contains 22 genera, the largest of which See also:Allium has about 250 species—7 are See also:British; Agapanthus or See also:African lily is a well-known See also:garden plant; in Gagea, a genus of small bulbous herbs found in most parts of Europe, the inflorescence is reduced to a few flowers or a single flower; G. lutea is a See also:local and rare British plant. Lllioideae.—Bulbous plants with a terminal racemose in-florescence; the anthers open introrsely and the capsule is loculicidal. It contains 28 genera, several being represented in Britain. The typical genus Lilium and Fritillaria are widely distributed in the temperate regions of the See also:northern hemisphere ; F. meleagris, snake's See also:head, is found in moist meadows in some of the southern and central See also:English counties; Tulipa contains more than 5o species in Europe and temperate Asia, and is specially abundant in the dry districts of central Asia; Lloydia, a small slender alpine plant, widely distributed in the northern hemisphere, occurs on See also:Snowdon in See also:Wales; Scilla (See also:squill) is a large genus, chiefly in Europe and Asia—S. nutans is the See also:blue-See also:bell or See also:wild See also:hyacinth; Ornithogalum (Europe, Africa and west Asia) is closely allied to Scilla—O. umbellatum, See also:star of See also:Bethlehem, is naturalized in Britain; See also:Hyacinthus and Muscari are chiefly Mediterranean; M. See also:race- mosum, See also:grape hyacinth, occurs in sandy pastures in the eastern counties of See also:England. To this group- belong a number of tropical and especially South African genera such as Albuca, Urginea, Dianna, Lachenalia and others. Dracaenoideae.—The plants generally have an erect stem with a See also:crown of leaves which are often leathery; the anthers open introrsely and the fruit is a berry or capsule. It contains 9 genera, several of which, such as Yucca (fig. 5), Dracaena and Cordyline include arborescent species in which the stem increases in thickness continually by a centrifugal formation of new See also:tissue; an extreme See also:case is afforded by Dracaena See also:Draco, the See also:dragon-tree of See also:Teneriffe. Yucca and several allied genera are natives of the dry See also:country of the southern and western See also:United States and of Central See also:America. Dracaena and the allied genus Cordyline occur in the warmer regions of the Old World. There is a See also:close relation between the See also:pollination of many yuccas and the See also:life of a See also:moth (Pronuba yuccasella) ; the flowers are open and scented at See also:night when the See also:female moth becomes active, first See also:collecting a load of See also:pollen and then depositing her eggs, generally in a different flower from that which has supplied the pollen. The eggs are deposited in the ovary-See also:wall, usually just below an ovule; after each deposition the moth runs to the See also:top of the See also:pistil and thrusts some pollen into the opening of the stigma.
b' b
k, See also:Present corm.
h, h, See also: Ruscus aculeatus (fig. 6) is butcher's broom, an See also:evergreen See also:shrub with flattened leaf-like cladodes, native in the southerly portion of England and Wales; the small flowers are unisexual and borne on the See also:face of the cladode; the male contains three stamens, the filaments of which are united to See also:form a short stout. See also:column on which are seated the diverging cells of the anthers; in the female the ovary is enveloped by a fleshy staminal See also:tube on which are borne three barren anthers. Polygonatum and Maianthemum are allied genera with a herbaceous leafy stem and, in the former axillary flowers, in the latter flowers in a terminal raceme; both occur rarely in See also:woods in Britain; P. mieltiflorum is the well-known See also:Solomon's See also:seal of gardens (fig. 7), so called from the seal-like scars on the rhizome of stems of previous seasons, the See also:hanging flowers of which a contain no See also:honey, but are visited by b bees for the pollen. Convallaria is lily of the valley; See also:Aspidistra, native of the Himalayas, China and Japan, is a well-known pot plant ; its flowers depart from the normal arrangement of the order in having the parts From Strasburger's Lehrbuch der Bolenik, by permission d in fours (tetra- Gustav See also:Fischer. merous). See also:Paris, in- FIG. 7.-Rhizome of Polygonatum meltiflorum. eluding the British Herb Paris (P. a, Bud of next See also:year's aerial shoot. quadrifolia), has b, Scar of this year's, and c, d, e, scars of solitary tetra- to three preceding years' aerial shoots. poly-merous flowers w, Roots. terminating the short See also:annual shoot which bears a whorl of four or more leaves below the flower; in this and in some species of the nearly allied genus Trillium (chiefly temperate North America) the flowers have a fetid See also:smell, which together with the dark See also:purple of the ovary and stigmas and frequently also of the stamens and petals, attracts carrion-loving flies, which alight on the stigma and then climb the anthers and become dusted with pollen; the pollen is then carried to the stigmas of another flower. Luzuriagoideae are shrubs or undershrubs, with erect or climbing branches and fruit a berry. Lapageria, a native of See also:Chile, is a favourite greenhouse climber with See also:fine bell-shaped flowers. Smilacoideae are climbing shrubs with broad See also:net-veined leaves and small dioecious flowers in umbels springing from the leaf-axils; the fruit is a berry. They climb by means of tendrils, which are stipular structures arising from the leaf-sheath. Smilax is a characteristic tropical genus containing about 200 species; the dried roots of some species are the See also:drug See also:sarsaparilla. The two tribes Ophiopogonoideae and Aletroideae are often included in a distinct order, Haemodoraceae. The plants have a short rhizome and narrow or lanceolate basal leaves; and they are characterized by the ovary being often See also:half-inferior. They contain a few genera chiefly old world tropical and subtropical. The See also:leaven of species of Sansevierici yield a valuable fibre. Liliaceae may be regarded as the typical order of the series Liliiflorae. It resembles Juncaceae in the See also:general See also:plan of the flower, which, however, has become much more elaborate and varied in the form and See also:colour of its perianth in association with transmission of pollen by insect agency; a See also:link between the two orders is found in the group of Australian genera referred to above under Asphodeloideae. The tribe Ophiopogonoideae, with its tendency to an inferior ovary, suggests an See also:affinity with the Amaryllidaceae which resemble Liliaceae in habit and in the See also:horizontal plan of the flower, but have an inferior ovary. The tribe Smilacoideae, shrubby climbers with net-veined leaves and small unisexual flowers, bears much the same relationship to the order as a whole as does the order Dioscoreaceae, which have a similar habit, but flowers with an inferior ovary, to the Amaryllidaceae. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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