Crininae is one of four subtribes within the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

Amaryllideae Amaryllideae are a tribe of subfamily Amaryllidoideae (family Amaryllidaceae). They are herbaceous monocot perennial flowering plants with a predominantly Southern African distribution, with the exception of the pantropical genus ''Crinum''. They ...

( subfamily Amaryllidoideae,

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Amaryllidaceae), with a

pantropical A pantropical ("all tropics") distribution is one which covers tropical regions of both hemispheres. Examples of species include caecilians, modern sirenians and the plant genera ''Acacia'' and ''Bacopa''. ''Neotropical'' is a zoogeographic term ...

distribution (''Crinum'') and also

sub-Saharan Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the African co ...

Africa.

Description

Leaves frequently show an

intercalary meristem The meristem is a type of tissue found in plants. It consists of undifferentiated cells (meristematic cells) capable of cell division. Cells in the meristem can develop into all the other tissues and organs that occur in plants. These cells conti ...

and are usually fringed with cartilaginous teeth. The leaf apices are also often truncate (cut off). The

flowers A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

may be

actinomorphic Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts. Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spirall ...

to zygomorphic, with a perigone

tube Tube or tubes may refer to: * ''Tube'' (2003 film), a 2003 Korean film * ''The Tube'' (TV series), a music related TV series by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom * "Tubes" (Peter Dale), performer on the Soccer AM television show * Tube (band), a ...

with free

stamens The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

indehiscent Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part; structures that op ...

, irregular, and often

rostellate This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

(rosetted). The scape does not abscise (shed) during

seed dispersal In Spermatophyte plants, seed dispersal is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their seeds, including both abiotic vectors ...

, with the exception of ''

Ammocharis longifolia ''Ammocharis longifolia'' is a species of bulbous plant in the family Amaryllidaceae. It has been placed as the only species, ''Cybistetes longifolia'', in the monotypic genus ''Cybistetes''. Description ''Ammocharis longifolia'' is a perenni ...

'' where it detaches at ground level. The seeds also lack an

integument In biology, an integument is the tissue surrounding an organism's body or an organ within, such as skin, a husk, shell, germ or rind. Etymology The term is derived from ''integumentum'', which is Latin for "a covering". In a transferred, or ...

, but are endosperm-rich and partially chlorophyllous with cork-covering.

Taxonomy

Phylogeny

Crininae are placed within Amaryllideae as follow: These are phylogenetically related as follows:

Subdivision

As circumscribed by Meerow ''et al.'' (2001), there were three genera (Species), although the precise relationship between ''Cybistetes'' and ''Amocharis'' has been problematic, having been segregated in 1939 but later restored in 2007, submerging ''Cybistetes'' within ''Ammocharis'' as ''A. longifolia'': Genera (species): * ''

Crinum ''Crinum'' is a genus of about 180 species of perennial plants that have large showy flowers on leafless stems, and develop from bulbs. They are found in seasonally moist areas, including marshes, swamps, depressions and along the sides of strea ...

'' (65) * ''

Ammocharis ''Ammocharis'' is a small genus from sub-Saharan Africa, in the family Amaryllidaceae (subfamily Amaryllidoideae) which includes seven species distributed in Africa. The plant grows as above-ground bulb, preferring seasonally wet, hot, sandy soi ...

'' (6)

Distribution

Widespread in the tropics (

) and sub-Saharan Africa.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * *
Katja Weiehhardt-Kulessa, Thomas Bórner, Jiirgen Sehmitz, Ute Müller-Doblies, and Dietrich Müller-Doblies. 2000. Controversial taxonomy of Strumariinae (Amaryllidaceae) investigated by nuclear rDNA (ITS) sequences. 1. ''Hessea, Namaquanula, Kamiesbergia'', and ''Dewinterella''. Plant Syst. Evol. 223:1-13 (2000)
*
online version
*

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10864157 Amaryllidoideae Plant subtribes Pantropical flora