The Lilieae are a monophyletic

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

monocotyledon Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae ''sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are grass and grass-like flowering plants (angiosperms), the seeds of which typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. They constitute one of ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

, herbaceous mainly

bulbous In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs durin ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the lily

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

(

Liliaceae The lily family, Liliaceae, consists of about 15 genera and 610 species of flowering plants within the order Liliales. They are monocotyledonous, perennial, herbaceous, often bulbous geophytes. Plants in this family have evolved with a fair a ...

Taxonomy

The term has varied over the years but in modern classification constitutes either a broad

circumscription Circumscription may refer to: *Circumscribed circle * Circumscription (logic) *Circumscription (taxonomy) *Circumscription theory, a theory about the origins of the political state in the history of human evolution proposed by the American anthrop ...

(Lilieae ''

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...

'', ''s.l.'') with eight genera, placed in the subfamily

Lilioideae The Lilioideae are a subfamily of monocotyledonous perennial, herbaceous mainly bulbous flowering plants in the lily family, Liliaceae. They are found predominantly in the temperate and colder regions of the Northern Hemisphere, particularly Eas ...

, or narrower circumscription with six genera (Lilieae ''sensu stricto'', ''s.s.''), excluding ''Tulipa'' (which now includes '' Amana'') and ''Erythronium'' which are treated as a separate tribe,

Tulipeae The Tulipeae ( syn. Tulipoideae) Duby is a tribe of monocotyledon perennial, herbaceous mainly bulbous flowering plants in the Liliaceae (lily) family. As originally conceived by Duby (1828), "Tulipaceae" was a tribe within Liliaceae, consisting ...

. Within Lilieae ''s.s.'', ''

Gagea ''Gagea'' is a large genus of spring flowers in the lily family. It is found primarily in Eurasia with a few species extending into North Africa and one species (''Gagea serotina'') in North America. The genus is named after the English natur ...

'' now includes '' Lloydia'', and ''

Lilium ''Lilium'' () is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. They are the true lilies. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. M ...

'' includes ''

Nomocharis ''Nomocharis'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Liliaceae. It consists of about 7 species native to montane regions of western China, Myanmar, and northern India. They are similar to ''Lilium'', with one of the more obvious differenc ...

'', reducing the number of genera to four, with about 260–300 species.

Phylogeny

The evolutionary and phylogenetic relationships between the genera currently included in Liliaceae are shown in this

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...

Distribution and habitat

Lilieae ''s.s.'' are distributed in temperate Northern Hemisphere areas, with the main

centre of diversity A center of origin is a geographical area where a group of organisms, either domesticated or wild, first developed its distinctive properties. They are also considered centers of diversity. Centers of origin were first identified in 1924 by N ...

in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, where about 100 species may be found. Other areas include East Asia, Central and West Asia, the Mediterranean Basin and North America.

References

Bibliography

Books

* * In

Articles

* * * * * * * *

Websites

* (''see also''

Angiosperm Phylogeny Website The Angiosperm Phylogeny Website (or APweb) is a website dedicated to research on angiosperm phylogeny and taxonomy. The site is hosted by the Missouri Botanical Garden website and maintained by researchers, Peter F. Stevens and Hilary M. Davis ...

) Liliaceae Monocot tribes {{Liliales-stub