lily family

Lilium candidum

 

LILIACEAE

Juss.

pronounced: lill-ee-AY-see-eye

the lily family

 

Lilium was the Latin word for the lily. Several groups of plants that were members of this family, including Amaryllidaceae and Asparagaceae, have now been put in their own families. Members of the Liliaceae have bulbs or other storage organs, long thin leaves usually with parallel veins, flowers with 6 petals and nearly always 6 stamens, and a 3-chambered seed capsule that forms inside the flower, although occasionally the fruits are berries. The leaves are usually clustered at the base of the plant, but may alternate along the stem or be arranged in whorls. The flowers are often borne in racemes, but may be solitary as in the tulip.

 


Photograph © Stan Shebs, via Wikimedia Commons