Alismataceae -- the arrowhead or water-plantain family (4/29-30; cosmopolitan)

1. Alismatanae Alismataceae -- the arrowhead or water-plantain family (4/29-30; cosmopolitan) • Plants flowering, synoecious or monoecious (rarely dioecious); milky sap • Habit aquatic herbs • Leaves simple; mostly basal with or without a well developed blade (sometimes leaves dimorphic); parallel-veined • Inflorescences cymes (can appear racemose or paniculate), terminal • Flowers actinomorphic, perfect or imperfect, hypogynous; gynoecium borne on a well developed convex receptacle and in most genera the carpels are spirally arranged (occasionally in whorls) • Calyx 3 sepals, distinct • Corolla 3 petals, distinct, ephemeral • Androecium 6-many stamens; distinct • Gynoecium superior; 6-many distinct carpels; 1 locule/carpel; 1 ovule/locule, basal placentation; 1 short style with inconspicuous stigma • Fruit aggregate of achenes • [Floral formula: Ca 3 Co 3 A 6-G 6-]

2. Alismatanae Potamogetonaceae -- the pondweed family (1/100; cosmopolitan) • Plants flowering, bisexual flowers • Habit aquatic herbs • Leaves alternate (rarely opposite or whorled), simple, entire, sheathing with stipule-like ligules: floating or submersed leaves • Inflorescences spike • Flowers actinomorphic, perfect, hypogynous • Perianth4 tepals, distinct, inconspicuous • Androecium 4 stamens; distinct, opposite the tepals and basally adnate to them; anthers sessile • Gynoecium superior; 4 distinct carpels; 1 locule/carpel; ovule/locule, marginal placentation; 1 short style or sessile stigma • Fruit achene or drupe • [Floral formula: T 4 A 4 G 4 ]

3. Aranae Araceae -- the arum family(108/2830; cosmopoliton, mostly in tropics and subtropics) • Plants flowering, bisexual or monoecious • Habit herbs, shrubs or vines; terrestrial, aquatic, or semi-epiphytic; vining members may be ± woody; adventitious roots especially evident • Leaves alternate; simple to pinnately or palmately lobed or compound; blades with pinnate and reticulate venation and usually long petiole that is sheathing to some degree; sometimes a bladeless deciduous sheathing leaf (prophyll) basally encloses each foliage leaf • Inflorescences fleshy spike, the spadix, surrounded or subtended by a conspicuous bract called a spathe (reduced in floating aquatics) • Flowers small, actinomorphic, perfect (imperfect), hypogynous • Perianth 0, 4 or 6 tepals distinct or connate • Androecium 1-6 (-12) stamens distinct or connate; filaments short or anthers sessile • Gynoecium superior (appears inferior when sunken into flesh of spadix); 1 pistil with1- many connate carpels; 1-many locules; 1-many ovules/locule, placentation various; stigma sessile • Fruit berry (or occasionally utricle, drupe, or nutlike) • [Floral formula: T 0 or 4-6 A 4-10 G 2-4 ]

4. Lilianae I Liliaceae -- the lily family (sensu stricto)(22/485; Mostly Northern Hemisphere, greatest diversity in Southeast Asia) • Plants flowering, bisexual • Habit herbs; sometimes with bulbs or rhizomes • Leaves alternate, whorled or all basal (opposite); simple usually with sheathing bases, sometimes succulent or reduced to scales; parallel venation • Inflorescences various, but are borne terminally • Flowers actinomorphic to slightly zygomorphic, perfect, hypogynous, hypanthium sometimes present, showy • Perianth 6 tepals, often petaloid • Androecium 6 stamens distinct; free or adnate to hypanthium; anthers dorsifixed and versatile or basifixed • Gynoecium superior;1 pistil with 3 connate carpels; 3 locules; 1-many ovules/locule, axile placentation; 1 simple style and 3-lobed stigma or 3-branched style with stigmas on style branches • Fruit capsule or berry • [Floral formula: T 6 A 6 G 3 ]

5. Lilianae I Trilliaceae -- the trillium family(1/50; mostly Northern Hemisphere) • Plants flowering, bisexual • Habit rhizomatous herbs • Leaves whorled (and usually the same number as the sepals); simple, entire, sessile with palmate venation, with primary veins converging, secondary veins pinnate, and higher-order veins forming a distinct reticulum • Inflorescences single, terminal flower • Flowers actinomorphic, perfect, hypogynous • Perianth distinct calyx and corolla, sepals and petals 3 or 4 • Androecium 6 (or 8) stamens, distinct • Gynoecium superior;1 pistil with 3-10 connate carpels; ovules numerous in each locule, axile placentation; 3 stigmas • Fruit fleshy capsule or berry; seeds arillate (not black) • [Floral formula: Ca 3-6 Co 3-6 A 6-16 G 3-8 ]

6. Lilianae II Dioscoreaceae -- the yam family(5/600+; cosmopolitan in tropical and subtropical regions, esp. in America) • Plants flowering, dioecious or synoecious; sometimes have bulbils in leaf axils • Habit herbs, vines with tubers or thick rhizomes Members are mostly vines with alternate (rarely opposite) leaves. • Leaves alternate, simple, entire, palmately veined with reticulate venation, often with cordate base, petiole with a pulvinus (swollen area) at both ends • Inflorescences racemes, spikes, panicules of cymes borne in the axil of leaves • Flowers actinomorphic, usually imperfect, epigynous, small and inconspicuous • Perianth 6 tepals, petaloid to ± sepaloid; distinct or basally connate; rotate or campanulate • Androecium 6 stamens, 3 sometimes reduced to staminodes or absent; distinct; adnate to perianth (epipetalous) • Gynoeciuminferior; 1 pistil of 3 connate carpels; 3 locules; 2 ovules/locule, axile placentation; 3 styles and 3 stigmas • Fruit capsule, berry or samara and in Dioscorea it is typically three winged • [Floral formula: T 6 A 3-6 G 3]

7. Lilianae II Dioscoreaceae -- comments • Vegetatively this family can look like a dicot, for example Aristolochiaceae or Menispermaceae! How would you tell the family from Aristolochiaceae? The yam and several medicinals come from Dioscorea.

8. beta family Smilacaceae -- the catbrier family(2/317; tropical and temperate) • Plants flowering, dioecious • Habit vines, climbing by tendrils arising from petioles, or erect herbs • Leaves alternate, simple, entire to spinose serrate, petiolate with palmate venation, with primary veins converging, secondary veins pinnate, and higher-order veins forming a distinct reticulum • Inflorescences determinate, umbellate, terminal or axillary • Flowers unisexual, actinomorphic, inconspicuous • Perianth 6 tepals, distinct to slightly connate • Androecium 6 stamens, distinct, anthers unilocular • Gynoecium superior;1 pistil with 3connate carpels; ovules 1-2 per locule, axile placentation; 3 stigmas • Fruit 1-3 seeded berry