Amaryllideae

Amaryllideae
Amaryllis belladonna, Isles of Scilly, UK.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Subkingdom:	Tracheobionta
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Liliopsida
Subclass:	Liliidae
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Amaryllidaceae
Subfamily:	Amaryllidoideae
Tribe:	Amaryllideae J.St.-Hil.
Subtribes
See text.
Diversity
11 genera, ca. 150 species

Amaryllideae is a tribe of perennial, herbaceous and bulbous plants in the Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae). Members of this tribe are distributed in Africa, with the exception of the pantropical genus Crinum. Much of the tribe's generic diversity is confined to South Africa.^[1]

Description

Amaryllideae is marked by a large number of synapomorphies: extensible fibers in the bulb tunics, bisulculate pollen with spinulose exine, scapes with a sclerenchymatous sheath, unitegmic or ategmic ovules, and nondormant, water-rich, nonphytomelanous seeds with chlorophyllous embryos.^[2] A few of the genera extend outside of South Africa proper, but only Crinum, with seeds well suited to oceanic dispersal,^[3] ranges through Asia, Australia, and America.^[4]

Subtribes

Based on the results of a combined cladistic analyses of morphology and DNA sequences, the tribe is generally subdivided in the following 4 subtribes:^[5]

• Subtribe Amaryllidinae

  Leaf with a prominent midrib; flowers zygomorphic, without a perigone tube; stamens declinate, proximally connate into a rudimentary filament tube; scape not detaching from bulb during seed dispersal; fruit dehiscent; seeds large, pink or colorless, only the embryo green. Endemic to the winter rainfall region of southern Africa.

• Subtribe Boophoninae

  Leaves spreading into an erect fan. Inflorescence of numerous helicoid cymes; pedicels elongating and radiating after anthesis; flowers actinomorphic, with a perigone tube; stamens free; fruit indehiscent, trigonal, 3-ribbed; fruiting head detaching from top of scape; seeds endosperm-rich, partially chlorophyllous, cork-covered. Widespread in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Subtribe Crininae

  Leaves often with an intercalary meristem, usually fringed with cartilaginous teeth, apex often truncate. Flowers actinomorphic to zygomorphic, with a perigone tube; stamens free; fruit indehiscent, irregular, often rostellate; scape not abscising during seed dispersal except in Cybistetes where it detaches at ground level; seeds lacking an integument, endosperm-rich, partially chlorophyllous, cork-covered. Widespread in the tropics and sub-Saharan Africa.

• Subtribe Strumariinae

  Leaves often prostrate. Flowers zygomorphic or actinomorphic, with or without a perigone tube; stamens connate into a tube proximally (except in Strumaria where one whorl of stamens is fused to the style); fruit dehiscent; seeds with a well-developed chlorophyllous integument and stomatose testa. Southern Africa. Still, there exist controversy about the delimitation of genera in this subtribe.^[6]

Taxonomy

Family Agapanthaceae

Family Amaryllidaceae

Tribe Amaryllideae

Subtribe Amaryllidinae Pax in Engler & Prantl^[7]

Amaryllis

Subtribe Boophoninae D. & U.Müll.-Doblies^[8]

Boophone

Subtribe Crininae Pax in Engler & Prantl^[9]

Crinum

Crinum species in Hyderabad, India.

Ammocharis

Cybistetes

Subtribe Strumariinae Traub ex D. & U.Müller-Doblies^[10]

Crossyne

Strumaria

Nerine

Hessea

Namaquanula

Brunsvigia

Tribe Cyrthanteae

Tribe Hamantheae

Tribe Calostemmatae

Tribe Lycorideae

Tribe Galantheae

Tribe Pancratieae

Tribe Narcisseae

Tribe Griffineae

Tribe Hippeastreae

Tribe Eustephieae

Tribe Strenomesseae

Tribe Eucharideae

Tribe Clinantheae

Tribe Hymenocallideae

References

1. ^ Snijman D. A. H. P. Linder 1996 Phylogenetic relationships, seed characters, and dispersal system evolution in Amaryllideae (Amaryllidaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 83: 362-386
2. ^ Meerow A. W. D. A. Snijman 1998. Amaryllidaceae. In K. Kubitzki [ed.], Families and genera of vascular plants, vol. 3, 83–110. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany
3. ^ Koshimizu T. 1930 Carpobiological studies of Crinum asiaticum L. var. japonicum Bak. Memoirs of the College of Sciences, Kyoto Imperial University, Series. B., Biology 5: 183-227
4. ^ Vigneron, P. (2000-2006). "Amaryllideae". Amaryllidaceae organization. http://www.amaryllidaceae.org/Amaryllideae.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-02. 
5. ^ Meerow, Alan W., Snijman, Deirdre A. 2001. Phylogeny of Amaryllidaceae tribe Amaryllideae based on nrDNA ITS sequences and morphology. Am. J. Bot. 88: 2321-2330
6. ^ Katja Weiehhardt-Kulessa, Thomas Bórner, Jiirgen Sehmitz, Ute Müller-Doblies, and Dietrich Müller-Doblies. 2000. Controversial taxonomy of Strumariinae (Amaryllidaceae) investigated by nuclear rDNA (ITS) sequences. 1. Hessea, Namaquanula, Kamiesbergia, and Dewinterella. Plant Syst. Evol. 223:1-13 (2000)
7. ^ Nat. Pflanzenfam. 2, 5: 105. 1887 emend Meerow & Snijman, 2001.
8. ^ Feddes Repertorium 107: S. c. 3. 1996 emend Meerow & Snijman, 2001.
9. ^ Nat. Pflanzenfam. 2, 5: 108. 1887; Müller-Doblies & Müller-Doblies, Feddes Repertorium 107: S. c. 3. 1996.
10. ^ Bot. Jahrb. 107: 18. 1985 emend Meerow & Snijman, 2001.

Further reading

• Snijman, D. A. 1992. Systematic studies in the tribe Amaryllideae. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cape Town.
• Müller-Doblies, D., and U. Müller-Doblies. 1996. Tribes and subtribes and some species combinations in Amaryllidaceae J. St.-Hil. emend. R. Dahlgren and al. 1985. Feddes Repertiorum 107 (5-6): S.c. 1-9.
• Meerow, Alan W. Michael F. Fay, Charles L Guy , Qin-BaoLi, Faridah Q Zaman and Mark W. Chase. 1999. Systematics of Amaryllidaceae based on cladistic analysis of plastid sequence data. Am. J. Bot., 86: 1325.
• Weichhardt-Kulessa K., Börner T., Schmitz J., Müller-Doblies U. & Müller-Doblies D. 2000. Controversial taxonomy of Strumariinae (Amaryllidaceae) investigated by nuclear rDNA (ITS) sequences. Plant Systematics and Evolution, 223(1-2): 1-13.