Triteleia

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Tripletlilies

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Liliopsida
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Themidaceae (but see text)
Genus:	Triteleia Douglas ex Lindl.

Species

15-20, see text.

Synonyms

Hesperoscordium
Themis
Tritelia

The tripletlilies are the genus Triteleia of monocotyledon flowering plants.

The tripletlilies 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.

[edit] 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 place it in family Asparagaceae or optionally in the possibly distinct Themidaceae. Many 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 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^{[verification needed]}
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