''Fusifilum'' is a genus of

bulb In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...

ous flowering plants in the family

Asparagaceae Asparagaceae, known as the asparagus family, is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots. The family name is based on the edible garden asparagus, ''Asparagus officinalis''. Those who live in the temperate c ...

, subfamily

Scilloideae Scilloideae (named after the genus ''Scilla'', "squill") is a subfamily of bulbous plants within the family ''Asparagaceae''. Scilloideae is sometimes treated as a separate family Hyacinthaceae, named after the genus ''Hyacinthus''. Scilloideae or ...

(also treated as the family Hyacinthaceae).Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards),
Asparagales: Scilloideae
, ''Angiosperm Phylogeny Website'', retrieved 2013-04-08 It is distributed in southern Africa ( South Africa,

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

, Namibia). Some sources consider that all the species should be placed in the genus ''

Drimia ''Drimia'' is a genus of flowering plants. In the APG IV classification system, it is placed in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae (formerly the family Hyacinthaceae). When broadly circumscribed, the genus includes a number of othe ...

''.

Systematics

The genus ''Fusifilum'' was created by

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; October 22, 1783September 18, 1840) was a French 19th-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a young man in the United States, ultimat ...

in 1837, the type species being ''F. physodes''. In 2001, some species were moved from other genera (such as ''Drimia'') into ''Fusifilum''. Other species were newly created. A molecular phylogenetic analysis by Manning et al. in 2004 concluded that the genus was not

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

and that the species should all be placed in the genus ''

''. ''Fusifilum'' is placed in the tribe Urgineeae (or the subfamily Urgineoideae by those who use the family Hyacinthaceae).

Species

, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families recognized the following species:Search for "Fusifilum", *''

Fusifilum bruce-bayeri ''Fusifilum'' is a genus of bulbous flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae (also treated as the family Hyacinthaceae).Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards),Asparagales: Scilloideae, ''Angiosperm Phylogeny Website'', retrieved ...

'' U.Müll.-Doblies, J.S.Tang & D.Müll.-Doblies *'' Fusifilum capitatum'' (Hook.f.) Speta *'' Fusifilum crenulatum'' U.Müll.-Doblies, J.S.Tang & D.Müll.-Doblies *'' Fusifilum depressum'' (Baker) U.Müll.-Doblies, J.S.Tang & D.Müll.-Doblies *''

Fusifilum emdeorum ''Fusifilum'' is a genus of bulbous flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae (also treated as the family Hyacinthaceae).Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards),Asparagales: Scilloideae, ''Angiosperm Phylogeny Website'', retrieved ...

'' J.S.Tang & Weiglin *''

Fusifilum gifbergense ''Fusifilum'' is a genus of bulbous flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae (also treated as the family Hyacinthaceae).Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards),Asparagales: Scilloideae, ''Angiosperm Phylogeny Website'', retrieved ...