Diversity:  perennial herbs with, often, showy flowers - ca. 280 genera and 4,200 species.   The ethnoflora includes many ornamentals (Lilium - lily, Narcissus - daffodil, Tulipa - tulips, etc.).  Asparagus and Allium (Onion, garlic, leek, chive) provide edible shoots although many wild elements of the family are toxic.

Distribution:  Worldwide.  The Texas flora includes 35 genera and 92 species in (about 9  genera and  36  Texas species are often placed in the Amaryllidaceae) 

Floral structure:

connation/adnation of present in the androperianth

Significant features:  Erect, climbing, or scapose perennial herbs with linear, 'monocot-like' leaves and various shoot features of the herbaceous perennial (buld, rhizome, corm, etc.).  Flowers usually perfect, actinomorphic, and showy with petaloid calyx and either a capsular or berry-like fruit.   This large group of showy monocot genera, as treated by Cronquist (and the Flora of North America), includes groups that are often treated at the family level (as an example, see Amaryllidaceae).

plants	flowers	flower

plants	flower-front	flower-section

plant	flowers

More information on the Liliaceae and Amaryllidaceae