Diversity:  perennial herbs with, often, showy flowers - ca. 280 genera and 4,000 species.   The ethnoflora includes many ornamentals (Lilium - lily, Narcissus - daffodil, Tulipa - tulips, etc.).  Asparagus and Allium (Onion, garlic, leek, chive) provide edible shoots although many wild elements of the family are toxic.

Distribution:  Worldwide.  The Texas flora includes 30 genera and 93 species in Texas  (Texas Amaryllidaceae adds 9  genera and  36  species) with 14 endemic taxa from 4 genera and, in the east-coastal region, 4 endemic taxa from two genera of the Amaryllidaceae (see North American taxa).

Floral structure:

connation/adnation of present in the androperianth

Significant features:  Erect, climbing, or scapose perennial herbs with linear, 'monocot-like' leaves and various shoot features of the herbaceous perennial (buld, rhizome, corm, etc.).  Flowers usually perfect, actinomorphic, and showy with petaloid calyx and either a capsular or berry-like fruit.   This large group of showy monocot genera, as treated by Cronquist, includes groups that are often treated at the family level (see Texas Amaryllidaceae).

plants	flowers	flower

plants	flower-front	flower-section

plant	flowers

More information on the Liliaceae and Amaryllidaceae