| Class: | angiosperms |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Asphodelaceae |
| Name acc. to: | APGII, Gubanov 1996 |
| Synonym: | Liliaceae (p.p.) (acc. to Grubov 1988/2001) |
| Description: | Herbs perennial, rhizomatous. Leaves grasslike, all basal. Scape erect, longer than leaves, bearing a few sterile bracts and a terminal many flowered raceme. Flowers solitary or in clusters of 2 or 3, subsessile to shortly pedicellate. Fruit a capsule, narrowly ovoid-ellipsoid, seeds narrowly winged along angles. |
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| genus: 1 |
| species: 1 |
| Habit (i)general appearance of a plant | |
| Growth form: (i)Herb, shrub, tree or climber. | herb (i)Herbaceous, erect plant, up to 2m high, mostly with a leafy shoot; if perennial, shoots die to the ground each season, shoots are not woody
example: Artemisia pectinata 
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| Parasite status: (i)Is the plant a half- or full parasite? | no parasite/saprophyte (i)Plant fully autonomous, leaves with chlorophyll
example: Most plants, Ranunculus
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| Leaf (i)expanded, usually photosynthetic organ of a plant (including phylloclades) | |
| Leaf development: (i)Structure and development of leaves. | with green leaves (i)Plant with green leaves
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| Shape of blade: (i)Easy for simple leaves. In compound leaves use the general shape of leaflet. Always check the ground for largest leaves of a plant. To be worked out: how to handle pinnate leaves? | linear incl.grasslike or oblong (i)Leaves more than two times longer than broad with more or less parallel margins; see character: stipule for ligula
example: Dracocephalum ruyschiana, Poaceae, Scutellaria scordifolia, Pinus 
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| Leaf veination: (i)Arrangement of the main veins of a leaf. | parallel (i)Most veins arranged parallel to the length of leaf, mostly no pronounced main vein (usually in elongate to linear leaves)
example: Most Monocotyledonae, Plantago, Veratrum, a lot of Caryophyllaceae looks like that.   inherited by order Asparagales: parallel
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| Flower (i)reproductive portion of the plant, consisting of sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils | |
| Flower appearance and pollination: (i)General appearance of the flower. | attractive, animal-pollinated (i)attractive and coloured flowers, mostly large, attracting surely animals
example: Trollius, Rosa, Chamaerhodos
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| Perianth arrangement: (i)Attention: in some plants, flowers may be dimorphic in different ways (dioecious or gynodioecious). If flowers vary, record the characters of the most showy flowers. | simple, similar (i)Only one type of perianth leaves (tepals)
example: Tulipa 
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| Flower symmetry: (i)Symmetry of the perianth leaves. Attention: to assess this character, look on sepals, petals and stamens, but neglect carpels and ovary. | radiary, regular (actinomorphic) (i)More than two axis of symmetry
example: Saxifraga: 5; Iris: 3 
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| Flower form: (i)common forms of flowers ? Veronica | tubular to funnel-shaped (i)Petals form a tube, are often partially united to a cylindrical corolla, often surrounded by a calyx 
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| Petal / Tepal number: (i)Number of petal leaves (inner perianth leaves, usually coloured). | 6 (i)
example: Allium, Lilium, Dactylorhiza
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| Petal / Tepal fusion: (i)To which degree are the petal leaves connected? Petals sympetalous. | fused at base (i)petal leaves with a joint base, but fused over not more than 50% of the entire length
example: Myosotis, Pedicularis, Cortusa
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| Spur: (i)A hollow, slender, sac-like appendage of the perianth leaves, storing nectar. | no spur (i)Flower without appendage
example: Peganum
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| Stamen number: (i)Attention: We ask for the reproductive organs of the flower dispersing pollen. Count only fully fertile stamens, not staminodia (e.g. Parnassia). | 3 (i)
example: Poa, Iris
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| Pistil number: (i)Number of pistils (female floral organs: style, if developed; stigma and carpels/ovary together build the pistil). | 3 (i)Three stigmas, usually in a triangle
example: Stellaria, Euphorbia, Campanula, Allium
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| Carpel fusion: (i)To which degree are the carpels (modified leaf forming simple pistil or part of a compound pistil) fused. | fused (i)Carpels united into an ovary, only styles are free
example: Malus, Berberis
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| Style number: (i)Portion of the pistil connecting the stigma to the ovary. | 1
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| Ovary position: (i)For entirely or partly fused carpels, describe their position in relation to the insertion point of perianth leaves (best done by doing a longitudinal section of a flower). | superior (hypogynous) (i)Base of carpels attached above insertion point of perianth leaves, carpels free or fused
example: Delphinium, Anemone  
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| Sex: (i)Distribution of male and female organs among flowers, only most commonly cases. | bisexual, hermaphrodite (i)All or nearly all flowers of a plant with male and female parts
example: Haplophyllum, Chenopodium
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| Inflorescence (i)flowering part of a plant, describes the arrangement of the flowers on the flowering axis | |
| Inflorescence type: (i)Types of inflorescence. Attention: We here ask for the botanical nomenclature of inflorescences, which is sufficiently complicated. Tick only, if you are certain, or tick all inflorescence types that appear similar of these of the plant in question. | raceme (i)Stalked flowers arranged along a simple main axis, often one by one in the axils of leaves, maturing from bottom upwards
example: Aconitum barbatum 
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| Fruit (i)the seed bearing organ, with or without adnate parts; a ripened ovary and any other structures which are attached and ripen with it. Aggregate fruits are handled like simple fruits for determination. | |
| Type of fruit: (i)Common fruit types (including pseudocarp). | Solitary fruits (i)   
capsule (i)Dry dehiscent fruit, releasing seeds by slits or holes.
example: Poppy, most Caryophyllaceae, Cerastium, a lot of Scrophulariaceae, Iris (oppened capsule looks like Delphinium), Zygophyllum - it is a very common fruit type   
Dehiscent fruits (i)Fruits open along a longitudinale line (except silicula)
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| Root / shoot below ground (i)plant part below ground (in most cases), including below ground shoots, without leaves | |
| Root type: (i)Organisation of the roots. | homorhizous (i)Many equal roots
example: Monocotyledonae inherited by order Asparagales: homorhizous
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