Triteleia

Triteleia is a genus of monocotyledon flowering plants also known as triplet lilies. Species are native to western North America, from British Columbia south to California, with one species in northwestern Mexico. However they are most common in California.[1][2][3] 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.

Triplet lilies
Ithuriel's spear (Triteleia laxa)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Asparagaceae
Subfamily:	Brodiaeoideae
Genus:	Triteleia Douglas ex Lindl.
Synonyms[1]
Hesperoscordium Lindl. Calliprora Lindl. Tulophos Raf. Scaduakintos Raf. Seubertia Kunth Veatchia Kellogg Themis Salisb.

Taxonomy and systematics

The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group's 2009 revision placed the genus in family Asparagaceae, subfamily Brodiaeoideae[4] (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.

About 16 species are currently recognised in Triteleia, with several of them having well defined subspecies or varieties that have different common names. Some common species that are now placed in genus Triteleia were formerly placed in genus Brodiaea, and as a consequence "brodiaea" has been incorporated into some of their common names.

Triteleia ixioides ssp. scabra flower

• Triteleia bridgesii – Bridges' brodiaea – mountains of northern California and southwestern Oregon
• Triteleia clementina – San Clemente Island triteleia – endemic to San Clemente Island
• Triteleia crocea – Yellow triteleia – mountains of northern California and southwestern Oregon
• Triteleia dudleyi – Dudley's triteleia – from Mono County to Los Angeles County
• Triteleia grandiflora – large-flowered triteleia, Howell's triteleia, wild hyacinth – British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, extreme northern California; isolated population in southwestern Colorado
• Triteleia guadalupensis – jacinto del desierto – endemic to Guadalupe Island off the west coast of Baja California
• Triteleia hendersonii – Henderson's triteleia – southwestern Oregon and extreme northern California
• Triteleia hyacinthina – white triteleia, white brodiaea, hyacinth brodiaea, fool's onion – common in much of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California; also western Nevada and northern Idaho
• Triteleia ixioides – Prettyface – much of California plus southwestern Oregon
• Triteleia laxa – Ithuriel's spear, grassnut – much of California plus southwestern Oregon
• Triteleia lemmoniae – Oak Creek triplet lily, Lemmon's star – Arizona
• Triteleia lilacina – lilac prettyface northern California
• Triteleia lugens – Coast Range triteleia – two populations in the Coast Ranges of California, one around Pinnacles National Park and the other around the Sonoma and Napa valleys, north of San Francisco
• Triteleia montana – mountain triteleia – northern Sierra Nevada of California
• Triteleia peduncularis – longray triplet lily, long-rayed Brodiaea – coastal counties of northern California
• Triteleia piutensis – Piute Mountains triteleia – described in April 2014 from two populations in the Piute Mountains of the southern Sierra in Kern County, California
• Triteleia × versicolor – Pinto triplet lily – Monterey County (sterile hybrid T. hyacinthina × T. ixioides)

A 2002 phylogenetic review of related genera found four clades within Triteleia that were all supported with 100 percent jackknife resampling values:[5]

1. Triteleia montana and Triteleia lemmoniae
2. Triteleia peduncularis, Triteleia laxa, and Triteleia bridgesii
3. Triteleia hyacinthina and Triteleia ixioides
4. Triteleia grandiflora, Triteleia crocea, and Triteleia hendersonii

References

1. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
2. Flora of North America, Triteleia Douglas ex Lindley, Edwards’s Bot. Reg. 15: under plate 1293. 1830.
3. Biota of North America Program, 2013 county distribution maps, species of Triteleia
4. Stevens, P.F., Angiosperm Phylogeny Website: Asparagales: Brodiaeoideae
5. Pires & Sytsma 2002, p. 1351.

• Jepson treatment

Sources

• Pires, J. Chris; Sytsma, Kenneth J. (August 2002). "A Phylogenetic Evaluation of a Biosystematic Framework: Brodiaea and Related Petaloid Monocots (Themidaceeae)". American Journal of Botany. 89 (8): 1342–1359. doi:10.3732/ajb.89.8.1342. PMID 21665737.