Triteleia

Tripletlilies
Ithuriel's Spear (Triteleia laxa)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
clade:	Angiosperms
clade:	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Asparagaceae
Subfamily:	Brodiaeoideae
Genus:	Triteleia Douglas ex Lindl.
Species
15-20, see text.
Synonyms
Hesperoscordium Themis Tritelia

Triteleia is a genus of monocotyledon flowering plants also known as triplet lilies. Species are native to western North America, from British Columbia southwards, with the ranges of some species reaching to Guatemala. However they are most common in California. They are perennial plants growing from a fibrous corm, roughly spherical in shape. They get their name from the fact that all parts of their flowers come in threes.

Taxonomy and systematics

The systematics of this genus are problematic in two ways.

First, different current systems place the genus in three different families. The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group in the 2009 revision place it in family Asparagaceae, subfamily Brodiaeoideae (having previously placed it in the possibly distinct Themidaceae). Other modern authors place it in the family Alliaceae. All these families are in the order Asparagales. However, older but still widely used sources such as ITIS place the Tripletlilies in the family Liliaceae, in the order Liliales.

The second difficulty is taxonomical; some common species that are now placed in genus Triteleia were formerly placed in genus Brodiaea, and as a consequence "brodiaea" has been incorporated into some of their common names. About 15-20 species are currently recognised in Triteleia, with several of them having well defined subspecies or varieties that have different common names.

Triteleia ixioides ssp. scabra flower

• Triteleia bridgesii – Bridges' Brodiaea
• Triteleia clementina – San Clemente Island Tripletlily
• Triteleia crocea – Yellow Tripletlily
  • Triteleia crocea var. crocea
  • Triteleia crocea var. modesta
• Triteleia dudleyi – Dudley's Tripletlily
• Triteleia grandiflora – Largeflower Tripletlily, Wild Hyacinth
  • Triteleia grandiflora var. grandiflora
  • Triteleia grandiflora var. howellii
• Triteleia guadalupensis
• Triteleia hendersonii
  • Triteleia hendersonii var. hendersonii – Henderson's Tripletlily
  • Triteleia hendersonii var. leachiae – Leach's Tripletlily
• Triteleia hyacinthina – White Tripletlily, Hyacinth Brodiaea, Fool's Onion
• Triteleia ixioides – Prettyface
  • Triteleia ixioides ssp. anilina
  • Triteleia ixioides ssp. cookii – Cook's Prettyface
  • Triteleia ixioides ssp. ixioides – Golden Brodiaea
  • Triteleia ixioides ssp. scabra
  • Triteleia ixioides ssp. unifolia
  • Triteleia ixioides ssp. uniofolia
• Triteleia laxa – Ithuriel's Spear, Grassnut
• Triteleia lemmoniae – Oak Creek Tripletlily
• Triteleia lilacina
• Triteleia lugens – Coast Range Tripletlily
• Triteleia montana
• Triteleia peduncularis – Longray Tripletlily
• Triteleia unifolia – Oneflower Tripletlily
• Triteleia versicolor – Pinto Tripletlily

References

• Jepson treatment