''Cardiocrinum'' is a genus of
bulbous plants of the
lily family first described in 1846. They are native to the
Himalaya
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...
,
China, the
Russian Far East
The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admin ...
, and
Japan.
Flora of China Vol. 24 Page 134 大百合属 da bai he shu ''Cardiocrinum'' (Endlicher) Lindley, Veg. Kingd. 205. 1846.
/ref> The bulbs are usually formed at the soil surface. The preferred habitat is woodland. The plants tend to be monocarpic
Monocarpic plants are those that flower and set seeds only once, and then die.
The term is derived from Greek (''mono'', "single" + ''karpos'', "fruit" or "grain"), and was first used by Alphonse de Candolle. Other terms with the same meaning ar ...
, dying after flowering.
Description
''Cardiocrinum'' is a genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of monocarpic
Monocarpic plants are those that flower and set seeds only once, and then die.
The term is derived from Greek (''mono'', "single" + ''karpos'', "fruit" or "grain"), and was first used by Alphonse de Candolle. Other terms with the same meaning ar ...
perennial
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...
herbs.
Taxonomy
''Cardiocrinum'' was originally described by Endlicher
Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804, Pressburg, Bratislava (Pozsony) – 28 March 1849, Vienna) was an Austrian Empire, Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botan ...
in 1836 as one of five sections of ''Lilium
''Lilium'' () is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. They are the true lilies. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. M ...
'', to which it is closely related. Later authors considered it a separate genus. The common name is giant lilies. They differ from ''Lilium'' in some characteristics, most notably in the heart shaped leaves. The genus name alludes to these leaves, from the Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
''kardia'', heart, and ''krinon'', lily.
The Himalayan species '' Cardiocrinum giganteum'' is the largest of any of the lily plants, growing up to 3.5 metres high.
Species
The genus ''Cardiocrinum'' is endemic to East Asia and has three species, two of which occur in China.
References
Bibliography
Books
*
*
Articles
*
*
*
*
*
*
Websites
*
*
*
*
*
Liliaceae
Liliaceae genera
Taxa named by Stephan Endlicher
{{Liliales-stub