Alstroemeriaceae is a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s, with 254 known

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

in four

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

, almost entirely native to the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

, from

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

to southern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. One species of '' Luzuriaga'' occurs in New Zealand, and the genus '' Drymophila'' is endemic to south-eastern Australia. The genus ''Alstroemeria'', commonly called the Peruvian lilies, are popular florist's and garden flowers. The genus '' Bomarea'' is a

vine A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; Benjamin; Da ...

that produces clusters of variously-colored, bell-shaped flowers.

Classification

The

APG II system The APG II system (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II system) of plant classification is the second, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly Molecular phylogenetics, molecular-based, list of systems of plant taxonomy, system of plant taxonomy that ...

, of 2003 (unchanged from the

APG system The APG system (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system) of plant classification is the first version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy. Published in 1998 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, it was replaced by the improved ...

, of 1998), treats the family in the order

Liliales Liliales is an order (biology), order of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group and Angiosperm Phylogeny Web List of systems of plant classification, system, within the lilioid monocots. This order of necessity includ ...

, in the clade

monocots Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, ( Lilianae '' sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are flowering plants whose seeds contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. A monocot taxon has been in use for several decades, but with various ranks a ...

. The

APG III system The APG III system of flowering plant classification is the third version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy being developed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). Published in 2009, it was superseded in 2016 by a f ...

, of 2009, merged the obscure family Luzuriagaceae into the Alstroemeriaceae, since the former group included only two genera, was the sister group of the Alstroemeriaceae, and possessed the same distinctive twisted petioles.

Distribution

Alstroemeriaceae is distributed in tropical and temperate America, from

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and the

Antilles The Antilles is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and east. The Antillean islands are divided into two smaller groupings: the Greater An ...

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main is ...

. Luzuriageae is distributed from

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

to the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

and Tierra del Fuego,

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

(NSW to Tasmania).

Uses

As food

'' Bomarea edulis'' is distributed from Mexico to

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. Its tubers have been used from pre-Columbian times as a food source. A single plant can have up to 20 tubers each 5 cm in diameter.

As ornamental plants

Some of the Alstroemeriaceae species used for ornamental purposes are: *''

Alstroemeria aurea ''Alstroemeria aurea'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Alstroemeriaceae, native to Chile and Argentina, but naturalised in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. It is also widely cultivated as an ornamental. Common names ...

'': endemic to Southern Chile. Flowers in the summer. Flowers are 3–4 cm in diameter, they're yellow and orange, tinged with green. *'' Alstroemeria haemantha'': endemic to Chile, especially near Valparaíso. It grown near rocks and flowers at the beginning of summer. It has red flowers that can grow up to 5 cm in diameter. *'' Alstroemeria ligtu'': endemic to Chile, it grows in stoney, sand, dry soil. It flowers at the end of spring and the beginning of summer and has a height of 60 cm–1 m. Its flowers present several colours, usually lilac and pink, red or white. *'' Alstroemeria psittacina'': distributed in the Brazilian swamp, Peru and the Misiones Province in Argentina. Its flowers have a length of 4–5 cm, and grow in bunches of 5 to 6 flowers. Its petals are red and green. *'' Bomarea ovallei'' (syn.: ''Leontochir ovallei''): endemic to Chile, grows in stoney soil in full sunlight in the 3rd Region of Chile. It has red flowers, which can also be yellow, although rarely. They can have a diameter of up to 10 cm. It is an endangered species due to its modest distribution and its use as food by wild animals. Other species, such as ''Luzuriaga radicans'', also endemic to Chile, have potential as ornamental plants.

Bibliography

* Anton Hofreiter & R. E. Rodríguez: ''The Alstroemeriaceae in Peru and neighbouring areas'', in ''Revistá Biología Peruana'', 13 (1), 2006, p. 1-62. * * *

References

External links

Alstroemeriaceae
in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onward
''The families of flowering plants''

NCBI Taxonomy Browser

links at CSDL, Texas

i

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q660752 Liliales families