Botany - B.Ye. Yakubenko 2017

Part Three. The Plant Kingdom (Plantae)
Chapter IX. Division Angiosperms, or Flowering Plants (Angiospermae, Magnoliophyta)
Laboratory Session Topic 14.49. The Lily Family (Liliaceae)

General Remarks. Representatives of the family are mostly herbaceous perennials with bulbs or rhizomes, and more rarely woody forms (found in tropical and subtropical regions). The leaves are more or less fleshy, shiny, entire, and alternate. The flowers are bisexual and actinomorphic. The perianth is simple, corolla-like, mostly brightly colored, with six free or connate segments. There are six stamens and a single pistil composed of three carpels; the Ovary is superior, trilocular, with one style, or rarely three. The inflorescence is a raceme, panicle, umbel, spike, etc., or flowers are rarely solitary. The fruit is a capsule or a berry. The Liliaceae are characterized by great diversity in the Structure and external appearance of individual genera, featuring many types of inflorescences, fruits, and vegetative Organs. Various pollination mechanisms occur, though entomophily predominates. Vegetative propagation takes place via bulbs, corms, or rhizomes. Their economic importance is quite significant. Among the Liliaceae, there are numerous vegetable plants (onion, garlic, wild garlic, asparagus), medicinal plants (lily of the valley, white hellebore, aloe, sea squill, etc.), and ornamentals (tulip, hyacinth, lily, dracaena, yucca, foxtail lily, etc.).

Objects:

1. Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis L.)

2. Solomon's seal (Polygonatum multiflorum (L.) All.)

3. Yellow star-of-Bethlehem (Gagea lutea (L.) Ker — Gawl.)

4. White hellebore (Veratrum album L.)

5. Herb-paris (Paris quadrifolia L.)

6. Garden asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.)

Tasks:

1. Analyze several liliaceous plants, identify their diagnostic features, and study the CHARACTERISTICS OF THE family.

2. Perform a morphological Analysis of the lily of the valley using the outline provided in previous laboratory Assignments.

3. Identify the plant using a taxonomic key. Record the identification steps in your notebook.

Equipment and Materials: MBR-1 microscopes, hand lenses, scalpels, razor blades, fresh and herbarium material, and other supplies.

Macroscopic studies. Examine specific diagnostic features typical of this family using the lily of the valley as an example. The lily of the valley is a herbaceous perennial plant with a creeping, well-developed rhizome, 20–30 cm in height. At the base, the aerial shoots are enveloped in scarious leaves. The stem leaves (2–3) arise from a highly shortened portion of the stem, with the second leaf emerging from a sheath formed by the fused petiole of the first leaf, and the third leaf, accordingly, from a sheath formed by the petiole of the second leaf.

The leaf blades are oblong-lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate, 15–20 cm long and 5–8 cm wide. The flowering stem is shorter than the leaves. The flowers are located in the leaf axils on long pedicels. The perianth is simple, globose-campanulate, and corolla-like. There are six white, fused petals. The six stamens are adnate to the Base of the perianth. The pistil has a single style; the ovary is superior, trilocular, and the short style terminates in a three-lobed stigma. The inflorescence is a raceme. The fruit is a berry. Floral formula: *P(3+3)A(3+3)G(3). The plant is poisonous. Begin the identification process with the family and record your steps in your notebook.

Family identification path: 1, 9—, 15, 16—, 42—, 47—, 48—, 49—, 73, 74—, 75—, 76, 77—, 78, 79—, 80—. Liliaceae — Liliaceae, p. 149.

Genus identification path: 1—, 2, 3—, 5—, 7. Lily of the valley — Convallaria.

Species identification path: the genus Convallaria is represented by a single species — lily of the valley — Convallaria majalis L.

Conclusion. A distinctive feature of this family is the presence of species whose underground parts are represented by bulbs or rhizomes. These are mostly early spring ephemerals and ephemeroids capable of withstanding the adverse conditions of summer drought by accumulating nutrient reserves; their underground organs also serve as organs of propagation. In most species, the flowers are regular and trimerous. Highly evolved representatives possess a sympetalous corolla and a syncarpous ovary.

Class="center">Self-Check Questions

1. Name the Water/128.html">Morphology/18.html">PLANT LIFE FORMS belonging to the family Liliaceae.

2. What leaf types and phyllotaxy are characteristic of the plants in this family?

3. What are the Structural Features of the underground organs in these plants?

4. Name the types of inflorescences characteristic of this family.

5. What floral structural features are typical of the representatives of the family Liliaceae?

6. Name the types of fruit in plants of this family.

7. Economic importance of the Liliaceae family.

8. Name the representatives of the family used as medicinal plants.

9. Name the vegetable crops belonging to this family.

10. What is the medical significance of lily of the valley?



Last update: 07/08/2026

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