keys to the vascular plants of east texas - Botanical Research ...

AMARYLLIDACEAE
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and edible (Bayer 1998). The genera have been variously treated in terms of family affiliation.
Some authorities have put them in a very broad and clearly polyphyletic (but practical) Liliaceae
(Cronquist 1988), while others have treated them in the Amaryllidaceae (Pax & Hoffman 1930)
or segregated them as a distinct family (e.g., Dahlgren et al. 1985; Bayer 1998). Based on phylogenetic
analyses, we are following Bayer (1998) and Rudall et al. (2000b) in treating Alstroemeria
in the Alstroemeriaceae (order Liliales). For a detailed discussion of the groups formerly treated
as Liliaceae in the broad sense, see the family synopsis of the Liliaceae (here treated in a restricted
sense) on page 726. The Alstroemeriaceae appears related to the Colchicaceae (Bayer
1998; Rudall et al. 2000b). (subclass Liliidae—Cronquist; order Liliales—APG II)
FAMILY RECOGNITION IN THE FIELD: lily-like, leafy-stemmed perennial herbs with 3–8 showy
flowers in an umbellate inflorescence, the tepals red to wine, greenish apically, spotted purplish
brown, 3.5–4.5 cm long, distinct; ovaries inferior.
REFERENCES: Bayer 1998; Aagesen & Sanso 2003.
ALSTROEMERIA L. PERUVIAN-LILY, LILY-OF-THE-INCAS, PARROT-LILY
AA genus of ca. 60 species (Holmes 2002d) of South America, particularly Chile and Brazil,
but ranging from Venezuela to Tierra del Fuego (Aagesen & Sanso 2003). Hybridization is common
and there is significant morphological variation—the result is that there are problems in
species delimitation (Aker & Healy 1990). The leaf base is twisted during development so that
the morphologically “upper” leaf surface faces downward at maturity (Aker & Healy 1990;
Mabberley 1997). Some species are cultivated as ornamentals—the cut flowers can be found in
numerous florists and grocery stores throughout East TX. The starchy roots have been eaten
since the time of the Incas (Aker & Healy 1990). The mature capsules are reported to “open under
dry and warm conditions with an audible explosion, catapulting valves and seeds away”
(Bayer 1998). There is temporal separation between the shedding of pollen and stigma receptivity
in many species (e.g., A. pulchella), making outcrossing very likely (Aker & Healy 1990). Pollination
by bees, flies, hummingbirds, and butterflies has been reported (Aker & Healy 1990;
Bayer 1998) (Named for Clas Alströmer, 1763–1794, Swedish naturalist and friend and pupil of
Linnaeus, who sent Linnaeus seeds of the genus—Stinson 1942; Holmes 2002d)
REFERENCES: Stinson 1942; Uphof 1952; Aker & Healy 1990; Sanso 1996; Sanso & Xifreda 2001;
Holmes 2002d.
Alstroemeria pulchella L.f., (pretty), PARROT-LILY. Erect perennial herb to ca. 90 cm tall, from tubers;
stems leafy; leaves alternate, to 11 cm long and 3 cm wide, petiolate; leaf blades narrowly lanceolate
to elliptic-spatulate on fertile stems, broader on sterile stems; petioles 2–4 cm long; inflorescences
terminal, umbellate, with 3–8 flowers; pedicels 1.5–3 cm long; flowers slightly bilaterally
symmetrical; tepals 6, distinct, red to wine, spotted purplish brown, greenish apically, 3.5–4.5
cm long; stamens 6; ovary inferior; capsules ± globose, to 1.3 cm long, many-seeded. Roadsides
(“aggressive” colony—E. Keith, pers. comm.); Newton Co. (Keith 717, BAYLU); se U.S. from FL w
to TX; since this species was added after map pages for the flora were completed, no county distribution
map is provided. Spring–early summer. Native to Brazil. [A. brasiliensis Sprengel, A.
psittacina Lehmann] This species is used as an outdoor ornamental in the deep south and has
become naturalized (Holmes 2002d). It has been reported to spread rapidly and proven difficult
to eradicate (Turner & Wasson 1999). I
AMARYLLIDACEAE Juss.
AMARYLLIS OR DAFFODIL FAMILY
Bulbose perennials; leaves basal, sometimes not present at flowering time; inflorescence terminal,
scapose, umbellate (technically a pseudoumbel resulting from the reduction of helicoid