''Triteleia'' is a genus of monocotyledon flowering plants also known as triplet lilies. The 16 species are native to western

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, from British Columbia south to California and east to Wyoming and Arizona, with one species in northwestern Mexico. However they are most common in California. They are perennial plants growing from a fibrous corm, roughly spherical in shape. They get their name from the fact that all parts of their flowers come in threes.

Taxonomy and systematics

The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group's

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

revision placed the genus in 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 Brodiaeoideae (having previously placed treated Brodiaeoideae as a separate family Themidaceae). Other modern authors place it in the family Alliaceae. Both these families are in the order Asparagales. There are currently 16 recognized species in ''Triteleia''. One species, ''Triteleia ixioides'', has five well-defined subspecies. Varieties and

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

have been proposed within several other ''Triteleia'' species, but these are no longer widely accepted. Some common species that are now placed in genus ''Triteleia'' were formerly placed in genus '' Brodiaea'', and as a consequence the word "brodiaea" has been incorporated into some of their common names. Triteleia ixioides scabra 2

* ''Triteleia'' × ''versicolor'' – Pinto triplet lily – a sterile hybrid believed to be ''T. hyacinthina'' × ''T. ixioides'', recorded only from the type specimen collected in 1935 at Whaler's Knoll in Point Lobos State Park, Monterey County A 2002 phylogenetic review of related genera found four clades within Triteleia that were all supported with 100 percent jackknife resampling values: *

Triteleia montana ''Triteleia montana'' is a monocotyledon, monocot flowering plant in the genus ''Triteleia''. Its common names include Sierra triteleia, and mountain triteleia. It is Endemism, endemic to California, where it is limited to the Sierra Nevada (U.S. ...

and

Triteleia lemmoniae ''Triteleia lemmoniae'', common names Oak Creek triteleia, Lemmon's star or Oak Creek triplet lily, is a plant species now classed in the family Asparagaceae, although older classifications would have regarded it part of the Liliaceae. ''Tritel ...

Triteleia peduncularis ''Triteleia peduncularis'' is a monocot flowering plant in the genus '' Triteleia''. Its common names include long-ray brodiaea and longray triteleia. It is endemic to California, where it occurs in the coastal and inland mountain ranges of t ...

Triteleia laxa ''Triteleia laxa'' (previously ''Brodiaea laxa'') is a triplet lily known by several common names, including Ithuriel's spear, common triteleia and grassnut. It is native to California where it is a common wildflower, and it is occasionally fou ...

, and

Triteleia bridgesii The triplet lily ''Triteleia bridgesii'' (previously ''Brodiaea bridgesii'') is known by the common name Bridges' brodiaea. It is found in the foothills and low elevation mountains of California and Oregon, often in areas of serpentine soil S ...

Triteleia hyacinthina ''Triteleia hyacinthina'' is a species of flowering plant known by the common names white brodiaea, white tripletlily, hyacinth brodiaea, and fool's onion. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to Idaho to central Californi ...

and Triteleia ixioides * Triteleia grandiflora,

Triteleia crocea ''Triteleia crocea'', with the common names yellow triteleia and yellow tripletlily, is a monocot flowering plant in the genus ''Triteleia''. Distribution The plant is native to northern California and into southern Oregon. It occurs in the Kla ...

, and

Triteleia hendersonii ''Triteleia hendersonii'', commonly known as Henderson's triteleia, Henderson's stars, or yellow tiger-lily, is a species of flowering plant native to the Pacific Northwest, occurring in Southern Oregon and Northern California. A variety ''Trite ...

References

Jepson treatment

Sources

* Asparagaceae genera {{Asparagaceae-stub