Melanthiaceae

{{Short description|Family of flowering plants}} {{Distinguish|Melianthaceae}} {{Automatic taxobox |image =Schoenocaulon_officinale_-_Köhler–s_Medizinal-Pflanzen-262.jpg |image_caption = ''Schoenocaulon officinale'' |taxon = Melanthiaceae |authority = Batsch ex Borkh.<ref name=APGIII2009>{{Cite journal |last=Angiosperm Phylogeny Group |year=2009 |title=An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III |journal=Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=161 |issue=2 |pages=105–121 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x |doi-access=free |hdl=10654/18083 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> |subdivision_ranks = Genera |subdivision = See text }}

'''Melanthiaceae''', also called the '''bunchflower family''',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/family/melanthiaceae/|title = Family: Melanthiaceae (Bunchflower family): Go Botany}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wildflowers-and-weeds.com/Plant_Families/Melanthiaceae.htm|title = Melanthiaceae: Bunchflower Family. Identify plants and flowers}}</ref> is a family of flowering herbaceous perennial plants native to the Northern Hemisphere.<ref name="zomlefer">{{cite journal| last = Zomlefer| first = WB|author2=NH Williams |author3=WM Whitten |author4=WS Judd | title = Generic circumscriptions and relationships in the tribe Melanthieae (Liliales, Melanthiaceae), with emphasis on ''Zigadenus'': Evidence from ITS and ''TRNL-F'' sequence date| journal = American Journal of Botany| volume = 88| issue = 9| pages = 1657–1669| publisher = Botanical Society of America| year = 2001| doi = 10.2307/3558411| jstor = 3558411| pmid = 21669700}}</ref> Along with many other lilioid monocots, early authors considered members of this family to belong to the family Liliaceae, in part because both their sepals and petals closely resemble each other and are often large and showy like those of lilies,<ref name="zomlefer"/> while some more recent taxonomists have placed them in a family Trilliaceae. The most authoritative modern treatment, however, the APG III system of 2009 (unchanged from the 2003 APG II system and the 1998 APG system), places the family in the order Liliales, in the clade monocots. Circumscribed in this way, the family includes up to 17 genera.

Familiar members of the family include the genera ''Paris'' and ''Trillium''.

[[File:Veratrum californicum habitus1.jpg|thumb|right|Birth defects in sheep grazing on ''Veratrum californicum'' provided key insights into developmental biology in the 20th century.]] [[File:Nodding trillium flower -SC woodlot- 3.JPG|thumb|right|Trilliums (here ''Trillium cernuum'') are fairly common woodland spring ephemerals in temperate North America and Asia.]]

== Genera and species == {{As of|2013|August}}, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families accepted 17 genera in the family.<ref name="WCSP_Melanthiaceae">Search for "Melanthiaceae", {{Cite web |title=World Checklist of Selected Plant Families |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |url=http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/ |access-date=2013-08-27 }}</ref> They have been divided into five tribes. It has a total of c. 173 known species.<ref name="Christenhusz-Byng2016">{{cite journal |author1=Christenhusz, M. J. M. |author2=Byng, J. W. |name-list-style=amp | year = 2016 | title = The number of known plants species in the world and its annual increase | journal = Phytotaxa | volume = 261 | pages = 201–217 | url = http://biotaxa.org/Phytotaxa/article/download/phytotaxa.261.3.1/20598 | doi = 10.11646/phytotaxa.261.3.1 | issue = 3 | publisher = Magnolia Press | doi-access = free |bibcode=2016Phytx.261..201C }}</ref> Generic assignments within the tribe Melanthieae in particular have been changed radically as a result of molecular phylogenetic studies in the 21st century.<ref name=zomlefer/> Some taxonomists have combined the three genera of Heloniadae into one genus (''Helonias'').<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tanaka |first=N. |title=Phylogenetic and Taxonomic Studies on ''Helonias'', ''Ypsilandra'' and ''Heloniopsis'' III. Taxonomic Revision |date=1998 |journal=Journal of Japanese Botany |volume=73 |issue=2 |pages=102–115 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286547838 |access-date=2019-04-04}}</ref>

;Heloniadeae * ''Helonias'' L. * ''Heloniopsis'' A.Gray * ''Ypsilandra'' Franch. ;Chionographideae * ''Chamaelirium'' Willd. * ''Chionographis'' Maxim. ;Melanthieae * ''Amianthium'' A.Gray * ''Anticlea'' Kunth * ''Melanthium'' J.Clayton ex L. * ''Schoenocaulon'' A.Gray * ''Stenanthium'' (A.Gray) Kunth * ''Toxicoscordion'' Rydb. * ''Veratrum'' L. * ''Zigadenus'' Michx. ;Xerophylleae * ''Xerophyllum'' Michx. ;Parideae * ''Paris'' L. (including ''Daiswa'' and ''Kinugasa'') * ''Pseudotrillium'' S.B.Farmer * ''Trillium'' L. (including ''Trillidium'')

== References == {{Reflist|30em}}

== External links == * {{Commons category-inline}} * [http://delta-intkey.com/angio/www/melanthi.htm Melanthiaceae] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200426090312/https://www.delta-intkey.com/angio/www/melanthi.htm |date=2020-04-26 }} [in a very wide sense], [http://delta-intkey.com/angio/www/trilliac.htm Trilliaceae] in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070103200438/http://delta-intkey.com/angio/ The families of flowering plants]: descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval.'' Version: 3 May 2006. http://delta-intkey.com {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070103200438/http://delta-intkey.com/ |date=2007-01-03 }}. * [http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/cgi/gateway_family?fam=Melanthiaceae links] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012204034/http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/cgi/gateway_family?fam=Melanthiaceae |date=2008-10-12 }} and more [http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/cgi/gateway_family?fam=Trilliaceae links] at CSDL, Texas

Category:Melanthiaceae Category:Liliales families Category:Taxa named by August Batsch