Family classification

Mary Sue Ittner msittner@mcn.org
Tue, 27 Apr 2010 20:59:11 PDT
To quote Wikipedia, "A modern system of plant taxonomy, the APG II 
system of plant classification was published in April of 2003 by the 
Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, APG. It was a revision of the first APG 
system, published in 1998, and was superseded in 2009 by a further 
revision, the APG III system."

In APG II Alliaceae optionally included Agapanthaceae and 
Amaryllidaceae.  So you could choose to include these or to keep them 
separate. Most of us didn't choose to include them.

In APG II, there were a number of families for which two alternate 
versions were permitted, wider (one larger family) and narrower (2-10 
more narrowly defined families). APG III eliminates these alternative 
versions because according to Kew the user community did not like 
this concept - they preferred that the APG authors decide which was 
better. I'm not sure how they came up with this view of what the user 
community wanted. On the Kew web site it is stated that this makes 
classification simpler. I suppose this is because there are fewer 
choices. We barely finished the family section on the wiki and now if 
we choose to follow APG III there will be changes. I have listed all 
the families below we have a least one genus and one species in that 
genus illustrated on the wiki and the new family APG III is advising 
for some of them.

I was interested in hearing John Manning who is an expert on 
Hyacinthaeae which would be gone under APG III saying we could choose 
to abide by APG II and not go to APG III. What does this user 
community prefer to do? Are we doing away with Alliaceae, 
Agapanthaceae, Agavaceae, Anthericaceae, Asphodelaceae, 
Convallariaceae, Eriospermaceae, Hemerocallidaceae, Hyacinthaceae, 
Themidaceae, and Trilliaceae to name a few of the families that would 
be history ?

Here's the list from the wiki. Those families that would be included 
in an expanded family have an equal sign after them. Asparagaceae 
expands dramatically under this system and Amaryllidaceae seems to 
have won out over Alliaceae. Liliaceae has been retained, but a lot 
of the genera that once were in Liliaceae would now be in 
Asparagaceae. I hope I got them all.

Agapanthaceae = Alliaceae = Amaryllidaceae
Agavaceae = Asparagaceae
Alliaceae = Amaryllidaceae
Alstroemeriaceae
Amaryllidaceae
Anthericaceae  = Agavaceae = Asparagaceae
Apocynaceae
Aponogetonaceae
Araceae
Araliaceae
Aristolochiaceae
Asclepiadaceae = Apocynaceae
Asparagaceae
Asphodelaceae  = Xanthorrhoeaceae
Asteraceae
Balsaminaceae
Begoniaceae
Berberidaceae
Blandfordiaceae
Brassicaceae
Calochortaceae = Liliaceae
Campanulaceae
Cannaceae
Colchicaceae
Commelinaceae
Convallariaceae = Asparagaceae
Convolvulaceae
Costaceae
Crassulaceae
Cucurbitaceae
Cyperaceae
Dioscoreaceae
Doryanthaceae
Droseraceae
Eriospermaceae  = Asparagaceae
Euphorbiaceae
Fabaceae
Fumariaceae = Papaveraceae
Geraniaceae
Gesneriaceae
Haemodoraceae
Heliconiaceae
Hemerocallidaceae = Xanthorrhoeaceae
Hesperocallidaceae = Asparagaceae
Hyacinthaceae = Asparagaceae
Hypoxidaceae
Iridaceae
Ixioliriaceae
Lamiaceae
Liliaceae
Lowiaceae
Marantaceae
Melanthiaceae
Musaceae
Myrsinaceae = Primulaceae
Nelumbonaceae
Nymphaeaceae
Onagraceae
Orchidaceae
Oxalidaceae
Paeoniaceae
Papaveraceae
Portulacaceae
Primulaceae
Ranunculaceae
Ruscaceae = Asparagaceae
Solanaceae
Strelitziaceae
Tecophilaeaceae
Themidaceae = Asparagaceae
Trilliaceae = Melanthiaceae
Tropaeolaceae
Velloziaceae
Xanthorrhoeaceae
Xeronemataceae
Zingiberaceae



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