Amaryllidaceae
Amaryllidaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Asparagales. It includes daffodils, snowdrops, and onions, among many other genera.
Asparagales: An order of flowering plants that includes orchids, asparagus, and Amaryllidaceae. Amaryllidaceae belongs to this order alongside several other distinctive plant families.
Onion: Allium cepa, a bulb-forming plant cultivated worldwide as a food and flavoring. Onion is a major crop in Amaryllidaceae and a familiar member of the genus Allium.
Carl Linnaeus: A Swedish botanist who established the binomial system of naming species and published a system of plant classification. Linnaeus named Amaryllis and helped establish the botanical framework from which the family was later defined.
Asphodelaceae: A family of flowering plants in Asparagales that includes aloes and daylilies. It is a neighboring family in Asparagales, distinct from Amaryllidaceae in modern classification.
Monocotyledon: A flowering plant whose seed embryo typically has one cotyledon, or seed leaf. Members of Amaryllidaceae are monocots, sharing characteristic traits such as parallel leaf veins.
Garlic: Allium sativum, a bulb-forming plant grown for its pungent edible cloves. Garlic shows the family's importance as a source of culinary crops.
Bentham and Hooker classification: A nineteenth-century system of plant classification published by George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker. Its treatment of amaryllid plants reflects an influential pre-molecular classification tradition.
Iridaceae: A family of flowering plants in Asparagales that includes irises, crocuses, and gladioli. Its showy flowers can resemble amaryllids, but Iridaceae is a separate family.
Umbel: A flower cluster whose stalks radiate from a common point, often forming a flat or rounded head. Umbels are a frequent inflorescence form in the family, especially among onions.
Narcissus: A genus of bulbous flowering plants that includes daffodils and paperwhites. Narcissus species are among the family's most widely cultivated ornamentals.