Tulipa sylvestris subsp. australis with seedpod (right), 1804

The Tulipeae (syn. Tulipoideae) Duby^[1] is a tribe of monocotyledon perennial, herbaceous mainly bulbous flowering plants in the Liliaceae (lily) family. As originally conceived by Duby (1828), "Tulipaceae" was a tribe within Liliaceae, consisting of the genera Tulipa, Fritillaria and Lilium. ^[1]

Description

Herbaceous non-climbing bulbous plants. Bulbs consisting of a single scale. Anthers pseudo-basifixed. fruit consists of a loculicidal capsule, seeds not winged. Tetrasporic embryo-sac formation with 7–8 nuclei. Nucella having a short base. Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM) non-Clintonia type. Chromosomes large - 2–11 μm (1–6 μm in Gagea). Genome size (3)4–25(70) pg, x = (9)12. Polyploidy common.^[2]

Taxonomy

Tulipeae remained a core group of the Liliaceae, containing the type genus, Lilium for most of its taxonomic history. For instance, Bentham and Hooker (1883),^[3] placed Lilium together with Tulipa and five other genera in Liliaceae tribe Tulipeae.

In the modern era, Takhtadzhi︠an described the tribe as having four genera:^[4]

• Tulipa
• Amana (considered by some to be included in Tulipa)
• Holongia^{[lower-alpha 1]}
• Erythronium

Later only Tulipa and Erythronium were included, and Gagea was added. Tulipeae has been variously constructed, chiefly as either a tribe of the subfamily Lilioideae,^[5] or a subfamily of Liliaceae itself (Tulipoideae).^[6] However it has been proposed that Gagea should be in its own tribe, the Lloydieae.^[7]

The evolutionary and phylogenetic relationships of Tulipeae within Liliaceae are shown in the following Cladogram.

Here, Tulipeae is shown as a clade within the broader construction of Lileae (sensu lato), or as a separate biogeographical tribe if the narrow sense of Lileae (sensu stricto) is adopted, with Lileae and Tulipeae as sister groups. The continuing use of Tulipeae as a separate tribe is supported by several authors.^[7][2]

Notes

References

Bibliography