The Xyridaceae are 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. This family has been recognized by many taxonomists and is known as the yellow-eyed grass family. 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), also recognizes this family, and assigns it to the order

Poales The Poales are a large order (biology), order of flowering plants in the monocotyledons, and includes families of plants such as the Poaceae, grasses, bromeliads, Juncaceae, rushes and Cyperaceae, sedges. 14 plant families are currently recogniz ...

in the clade

commelinids In plant taxonomy, commelinids (originally commelinoids) is a clade of flowering plants within the monocots, distinguished by having cell walls containing ferulic acid. Well-known commelinids include palms and relatives (order Arecales), dayf ...

, in the

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 ...

. This treatment in APG II represents a slight change from the APG system of 1998, which had recognized the family Abolbodaceae for some of the plants included here; that family was unplaced as to order, but was assigned to this same clade (although APG used the spelling "commelinoids"). The family contains almost 400 species in five genera, but most of the species are found in the genus '' Xyris'' (see also '' Abolboda''). The species are mostly tropical and subtropical. The

Cronquist system The Cronquist system is a list of systems of plant taxonomy, taxonomic classification system of angiosperms, flowering plants. It was developed by Arthur Cronquist in a series of monographs and texts, including ''The Evolution and Classification of ...

of 1981 also recognized such a family and placed it in the order Commelinales in the subclass Commelinidae in class Liliopsida in division Magnoliophyta. The

Wettstein system A list of systems of plant taxonomy, system of plant taxonomy, the Wettstein system recognised the following main groups, according to Richard Wettstein's ''Handbuch der Systematischen Botanik'' (1901–1924). 3rd edition (1924) Outline Syn ...

, last updated in 1935, placed the family in order Enantioblastae. ''Xyris torta'', twisted yellow-eyed grass, is on

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

list. In 2021 it was discovered that ''Fusarium xyrophilum'' was able to hijack a South American species of yellow-eyed Xyris grass, creating fake flowers, fooling bees and other pollinating insects into visiting them, taking fungal spores to other plants.

References

External links

*
Xyridaceae in the ''Flora of North America''

Xyridaceae in the ''Flora of China''

''Xyris'' in western Australia

links at CSDL
{{Authority control Poales families