page_title: Families of Asparagales
section_title: Ixioliriaceae
hierarchical_section_title: Families of Asparagales / Descriptions of families and subfamilies / Ixioliriaceae
caption_attribution_description: English: Ixiolirion tataricum var. tataricum, syn. Ixiolirion montanum Original Description: The Mountain Ixiolirion, Ixiolirion montanum
context_page_description: The Asparagales are an order of plants, and on this page the structure of the order is used according to the APG III system. The order takes its name from the family Asparagaceae and is placed in the monocots. The order is clearly circumscribed on the basis of DNA sequence analysis, but is difficult to define morphologically, since its members are structurally diverse. The APG III system is used in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families from the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. With this circumscription, the order consists of 14 families with approximately 1120 genera and 26000 species.
  Thus although most species in the order are herbaceous, some no more than 15 cm high, there are a number of climbers, as well as several genera forming trees, some of which can exceed 10 m in height. Succulent genera occur in several families. One of the defining characteristics of the order is the presence of phytomelan, a black pigment present in the seed coat, creating a dark crust. Phytomelan is found in most families of the Asparagales.
context_section_description: The family includes a single genus, Ixiolirion, with four species distributed from Egypt to central Asia. They are herbs with corms and an inflorescence forming a cluster. The individual flowers are blue, shortly tubular, with an inferior ovary.
caption: Ixioliriaceae: Ixiolirion
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