Asparagaceae

The Asparagaceae are a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots.

In earlier classification systems, the species involved were often treated as belonging to the family Liliaceae. The APG II system of 2003 allowed two options as to the circumscription of the family: either Asparagaceae sensu lato ("in the wider sense") combining seven previously recognized families, or Asparagaceae sensu stricto ("in the strict sense") consisting of very few genera (notably Asparagus, also Hemiphylacus), but nevertheless totalling a few hundred species. The revised APG III system of 2009 allows only the broader sense. A paper published at the same time proposed seven subfamilies to correspond to the originally separate families. These are:

• subfamily Agavoideae = family Agavaceae and family Hesperocallidaceae
• subfamily Aphyllanthoideae = family Aphyllanthaceae
• subfamily Asparagoideae = family Asparagaceae sensu stricto
• subfamily Brodiaeoideae = family Themidaceae
• subfamily Lomandroideae = family Laxmanniaceae
• subfamily Nolinoideae = family Ruscaceae
• subfamily Scilloideae = family Hyacinthaceae