Alstroemeriaceae

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Alstroemeriaceae
Alstroemeria aurantiaca.jpg
Alstroemeria aurea in cultivation
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Liliales
Family: Alstroemeriaceae
Dumort. [1]
Type genus
Alstroemeria L.
Genera [2]

Alstroemeriaceae is a family of flowering plants, with 254 known species in four genera, [3] almost entirely native to the Americas, from Central America to southern South America. One species of Luzuriaga occurs in New Zealand, and the genus Drymophila is endemic to south-eastern Australia.

Contents

The genus Alstroemeria, commonly called the Peruvian lilies, is popular florist's and garden flower. The genus Bomarea is a vine that produces clusters of variously-colored, bell-shaped flowers.

Classification

The APG II system, of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system, of 1998), treats the family in the order Liliales, in the clade monocots. The APG III system, 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.

TribeImageGenusSpecies
Alstroemerieae Alstroemeria magnifica - Flickr 003.jpg Alstroemeria L. 1762

123 species

Bomarea hirsuta (or kalbreyeri) (9725806861).jpg Bomarea Mirb., 1804

110 - 122 species

Luzuriageae Drymophila cyanocarpa.jpg Drymophila R.Br. (1810)
Almond Flower (3260590301).jpg Luzuriaga Ruiz & Pav. 1802

Distribution

Alstroemeriaceae is distributed in tropical and temperate America, from Mexico and the Antilles to Tierra del Fuego. Luzuriageae is distributed from Peru to the Falkland Islands and Tierra del Fuego, New Zealand and Australia (NSW to Tasmania).

Uses

As food

Bomarea edulis is distributed from Mexico to Argentina. 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:

Other species, such as Luzuriaga radicans, also endemic to Chile, have potential as ornamental plants.

Bibliography

References

  1. Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2009), "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III", Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 161 (2): 105–121, doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x , hdl: 10654/18083
  2. "Alstroemeriaceae Dumort". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  3. Christenhusz, M. J. M.; Byng, J. W. (2016). "The number of known plants species in the world and its annual increase". Phytotaxa. 261 (3). Magnolia Press: 201–217. Bibcode:2016Phytx.261..201C. doi: 10.11646/phytotaxa.261.3.1 .
  4. "Genus Drymophila". PlantNET - New South Wales Flora Online. Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, Sydney Australia. Retrieved 2009-12-19.