The

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Ipheion'' (starflower, spring starflower) belongs to

Allioideae Allioideae is a subfamily of monocot flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, order Asparagales. It was formerly treated as a separate family, Alliaceae. The subfamily name is derived from the generic name of the type genus, ''Allium''. ...

, a subfamily of the family

Amaryllidaceae The Amaryllidaceae are a family of herbaceous, mainly perennial and bulbous (rarely rhizomatous) flowering plants in the monocot order Asparagales. The family takes its name from the genus ''Amaryllis'' and is commonly known as the amaryllis fa ...

. The

World Checklist of Selected Plant Families The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (usually abbreviated to WCSP) is an "international collaborative programme that provides the latest peer reviewed and published opinions on the accepted scientific names and synonyms of selected plan ...

no longer recognize the genus, regarding it as a synonym of '' Tristagma'', although

The Plant List The Plant List was a list of botanical names of species of plants created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Missouri Botanical Garden and launched in 2010. It was intended to be a comprehensive record of all known names of plant species ...

accepts two species.

Description

They are small

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

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 wide ...

s with narrow grass-like leaves and honey-scented star-shaped flowers in spring, usually in shades of white or pale blue. The genus occurs naturally in Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil, although ''

Ipheion uniflorum ''Ipheion uniflorum'' is a species of flowering plant, related to the onions, so is placed in the allium subfamily (Allioideae) of the Amaryllidaceae. It is known by the common name springstar, or spring starflower. Along with all the species of ...

'' has naturalized elsewhere.

Taxonomy

History

The genus was originally described in 1836 by

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque 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 ...

, based on ''Ipheion uniflorum'', separating it from '' Milla uniflora'' Graham (now '' Tristagma''). The original description was unifloral inflorescences with white flowers, spathe formed by one bifid bract, staminal filaments independently fused to the perigonial tube and the fruit being a clavate trilocular capsule. Tristagma uniflorum Lindley1837

The name then disappeared for more than a century and at various times the species have been included under other related genera (''

Milla ''Milla'', the Mexican star, is a genus of monocotyledonous plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Brodiaeoideae. They are native mostly to Mexico, with one species extending into Guatemala, Honduras, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. '' ...

'', ''Tristagma'', ''

Brodiaea ''Brodiaea'' , also known by the common name cluster-lilies, is a monocot genus of flowering plants. One school of thought places the genus in the family , while another school of thought places it in the subfamily Brodiaeoideae of the family ...

'' (including '' Hookera''), ''

Leucocoryne ''Leucocoryne'' (glory-of-the-sun) is a genus of bulbous perennials in the family Amaryllidaceae. The foliage of all species is long and narrow and has an onion-like scent. The blue, white or lilac flowers are held in umbels. The entire genus is ...

'', ''

Nothoscordum ''Nothoscordum'' is a genus of New World plants in the Allioideae, onion tribe within the Amaryllidaceae, Amaryllis family. It is probably paraphyletic.Michael F. Fay, Paula J. Rudall, and Mark W. Chase. 2006. "Molecular studies of subfamily Gill ...

'', ''

Triteleia ''Triteleia'' is a genus of monocotyledon flowering plants also known as triplet lilies. The 16 species are native to western North America, from British Columbia south to California and east to Wyoming and Arizona, with one species in northwest ...

'' and ''

Beauverdia ''Beauverdia'' is a genus of South American plants in the onion subfamily within Amaryllis family, native to Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. The plants are bulb-forming perennial herbs. Affinities and classification of the species are unreso ...

''). Several of these genera are now in a completely different but related family (

Themidaceae Brodiaeoideae are a monocot subfamily of flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, order Asparagales. They have been treated as a separate family, Themidaceae. They are native to Central America and western North America, from British Colum ...

). The closest of these genera to ''Ipheion'' is actually ''Tristagma''. For instance in 1837, at the same time as Rafinesque's description, ''Ipheion uniflorum'' was described by

John Lindley John Lindley FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist. Early years Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley w ...

in the ''

Botanical Register ''The Botanical Register'', subsequently known as ''Edwards's Botanical Register'', was an illustrated horticultural magazine that ran from 1815 to 1847. It was started by the botanical illustrator Sydenham Edwards, who had previously illustrate ...

'' as ''Triteleia uniflora'' Lindl. (see illustration) In 1908, Beauverd placed ''Ipheion uniflorum'' in a new section of ''Nothoscordum'', ''Nothoscordum'' section ''uniflora'' Beauv. as ''Nothoscordum uniflorum'' Baker (without attributing Rafinesque), along with four other species. However the name ''Ipheion'' did not appear again until 1943. In that year

Herter Herter is a German occupational surname for a herdsman. Notable people with the surname include: * Albert Herter (1871–1950), American painter; son of Christian, the furniture maker * Christian Herter (1895–1966), American politician; son of ...

elevated ''Nothoscordum'' section ''uniflora'' to the rank of genus, as ''Beauverdia''. Later that same year Stearn pointed out that the name ''Ipheion'' had precedence and described the genus with nine species under that name. There has been constant uncertainty as to the limits of the genus. At one stage it included 23 species in two sections, at other times it was completely absorbed into other genera such as ''Tristagma''. Those species with yellow flowers were returned to ''Nothoscordum''. In 1972 Guaglianone separated it again from ''Tristagma'' and divided it into two sections, ''Hirtellum'' and ''Ipheion''. At that time it consisted of eight species in Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil and central Chile.

Familial circumscription

Lindley included ''Ipheion'' (as ''Triteleia'') under the family

Liliaceae The lily family, Liliaceae, consists of about 15 genera and 610 species of flowering plants within the order Liliales. They are monocotyledonous, perennial, herbaceous, often bulbous geophytes. Plants in this family have evolved with a fair ...

, a pattern that remained until 1926, when Hutchinson moved parts of that family to

, as tribe Gilesieae, an arrangement that has largely persisted since.

Phylogenetics

In 1996, a

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study of the

rbcL Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase, commonly known by the abbreviations RuBisCo, rubisco, RuBPCase, or RuBPco, is an enzyme () involved in the first major step of carbon fixation, a process by which atmospheric carbon dioxide is con ...

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

created the Gilliesioideae, as one of three subfamilies within

Alliaceae Allioideae is a subfamily of monocot flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, order Asparagales. It was formerly treated as a separate family, Alliaceae. The subfamily name is derived from the generic name of the type genus, ''Allium''. ...

. As phylogenetically constructed, Gilliesioideae (Gilliesioideae (Lindl.) Am., Botany: 134. 1832 - Gilliesieae Lindl. in Bot. Reg.: ad t. 992. 1826.) consisted of those New World Alliaceae not included in the other two subfamilies, which included both the former Gilliesieae together with ''Ipheion'', ''Leucocoryne'', ''Nothoscordum'', and ''Tristagma''. This is the circumscription which the

Angiosperm Phylogeny Group The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) is an informal international group of systematic botanists who collaborate to establish a consensus on the taxonomy of flowering plants (angiosperms) that reflects new knowledge about plant relationships disco ...

(APG) accepted in the APG classification of 1998 and which later became known as Alliaceae ''

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

'' (''s.s.''). This construction of Gilliesioideae, implicitly recognised that it was composed of two groups or tribes, informally referred to as Ipheieae and Gilliesieae. The Ipheieae were

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 ...

, and included ''Ipheion'', ''Nothoscordum'', ''Leucocoryne'' ''s.l.'' (including ''Pabellonia'' and ''Stemmatium''). Further

phylogenetic analysis In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

revealed that ''Ipheion'' 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 ...

but rather biphyletic with some species clustering with ''Tristagma'', and others with ''Nothoscordum'' (Fay 2006) although the division into sections was later supported. Research published in 2010 suggests that although related to genera such as '' Tristagma'' and ''

'', it is a distinct genus of 3 species. However, other sources do not recognize the genus, placing all the ''Ipheion'' species in ''Tristagma''. ''Ipheion'' section ''Hirtellum'' was raised to genus rank in 2014 under the older name of ''

'', with four species found in Argentina, southern Brazil, and Uruguay. This corresponds to Group 3 of Sassone ''et al.'' 2013. This leaves ''Ipheion'' section ''Ipheion '' representing the genus, but further work is required. This cluster (Group 2 in the cladistic analysis of Sassone ''et al.'' 2013) which clusters with ''Tristagma'' may either be an independent genus, or a section of the latter genus. These are the three species listed here.

Species

* '' Ipheion sessile'', syn. ''Ipheion recurvifolium'', ''Tristagma sessile'' * '' Ipheion tweedieanum'', syn. ''Tristagma tweedianum'' * ''

'', syn. ''Tristagma uniflorum'' - spring starflower

Species formerly placed in this genus

Other species formerly placed in ''Ipheion'' have been transferred to ''Beauverdia'', ''Nothoscordum'' or ''Tristagma'': * ''Ipheion ameghinoi'' (Speg.) Traub = '' Tristagma ameghinoi'' (Speg.) Speg. * ''Ipheion bivalve'' (Hook. ex Lindl.) Traub = '' Tristagma bivalve'' (Hook. ex Lindl.) Traub * ''Ipheion brevipes'' (Kuntze) Traub = '' Tristagma brevipes'' (Kuntze) Traub * ''Ipheion circinatum'' (Sandwith) Traub = '' Tristagma circinatum'' (Sandwith) Traub * ''Ipheion dialystemon'' Guagl. = '' Nothoscordum dialystemon'' (Guagl.) Crosa * ''Ipheion felipponei'' (Beauverd) Traub = ''

Beauverdia sellowiana ''Beauverdia'' is a genus of South American plants in the onion subfamily within Amaryllis family, native to Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. The plants are bulb-forming perennial herbs. Affinities and classification of the species are unreso ...

'' (Kunth) Herter * ''Ipheion gracile'' (Phil.) Traub = '' Tristagma gracile'' (Phil.) Traub * ''Ipheion hirtellum'' (Kunth) Traub = ''

Beauverdia hirtella ''Beauverdia'' is a genus of South American plants in the onion subfamily within Amaryllis family, native to Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. The plants are bulb-forming perennial herbs. Affinities and classification of the species are unreso ...

'' (Kunth) Herter * ''Ipheion lloydiiflorum'' (Beauverd) Traub = ''

Beauverdia vittata ''Beauverdia'' is a genus of South American plants in the onion subfamily within Amaryllis family, native to Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. The plants are bulb-forming perennial herbs. Affinities and classification of the species are unreso ...

'' (Griseb.) Herter * ''Ipheion lorentzii'' (Herter) Traub = '' Beauverdia lorentzii'' Herter * ''Ipheion nivale'' (Poepp.) Traub = '' Tristagma nivale'' Poepp. * ''Ipheion patagonicum'' (Baker) Traub = '' Tristagma patagonicum'' (Baker) Traub * ''Ipheion poeppigianum'' (Gay) Traub = '' Tristagma poeppigianum'' (Gay) Traub * ''Ipheion porrifolium'' (Poepp.) Traub = '' Tristagma porrifolium'' (Poepp.) Traub * ''Ipheion recurvifolium'' (C.H.Wright) Traub = '' Tristagma sessile'' (Phil.) Traub * ''Ipheion sellowianum'' (Kunth) Traub = ''

'' (Kunth) Herter * ''Ipheion setaceum'' (Baker) Traub = '' Nothoscordum setaceum'' (Baker) Ravenna * ''Ipheion spegazzinii'' (Macloskie) Traub = '' Tristagma patagonicum'' (Baker) Traub * ''Ipheion subsessile'' (Beauverd) Traub = ''

'' (Kunth) Herter * ''Ipheion violaceum'' (Kunth) Traub = '' Tristagma bivalve'' (Hook. ex Lindl.) Traub * ''Ipheion viridius'' (Killip) Traub = '' Tristagma patagonicum'' (Baker) Traub * ''Ipheion vittatum'' (Griseb.) Traub = ''

'' (Griseb.) Herter

Uses

'' is widely used as an ornamental garden plant in the Americas, Africa, Australia and Europe.

References

Bibliography

General

* * *

Systematics

* * * * * * * * * *

''Ipheion''

* * * * * * * * * * *

Related genera

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2303417 Amaryllidaceae genera Flora of South America Allioideae Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque