kids encyclopedia robot

Cluster-lily facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Cluster-lily
Brodiaea californica ssp leptandra 1.jpg
Brodiaea californica ssp. leptandra
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Subfamily: Brodiaeoideae
Genus: Brodiaea
Sm.
Type species
Brodiaea coronaria
(Salisb.) Jeps.
Synonyms

Hookera Salisb., rejected name

Brodiaea, often called cluster-lilies, is a group of flowering plants. These plants are monocots, which means their seeds have only one leaf. They belong to the plant family Themidaceae, which is part of the Asparagales order.

You can find Brodiaea plants along the Pacific Coast of North America. They grow from British Columbia down through California to the Baja California peninsula. They are especially common in northern California.

What are Cluster-Lilies Like?

Brodiaea species are herbaceous perennials. This means they are non-woody plants that live for more than two years. They grow from underground bulbs called corms.

Each plant usually has one to six narrow leaves growing from its corm. A tall, bare stem, called a scape, grows up and holds a cluster of flowers. This cluster is shaped like an umbrella and is called an umbel.

Flower Details

Each Brodiaea flower has six blue to purple tepals. Tepals are like petals and sepals combined. These tepals join at the bottom to form a tube, with free parts at the top. The three outer tepal parts are narrower than the three inner ones.

Inside the flower, you'll find three small, petal-like parts called staminodes. These are sterile stamens, meaning they don't produce pollen. There are also three normal stamens that do produce pollen. The bottom parts of the stamens can have different shapes, like flaps or wings. These shapes help scientists tell different Brodiaea species apart.

The center of the flower has a pistil with three sections. This forms the ovary, which holds the seeds. A stigma with three lobes sits at the top of the pistil. When the plant makes seeds, they are black.

How Brodiaea Got Its Name

The scientific name Brodiaea has an interesting story. The first plants were collected in 1792 by Archibald Menzies. He was a botanist on the Vancouver Expedition.

Later, in 1808, a botanist named Richard Salisbury described one of these plants. He named it Hookera coronaria after an illustrator, William Hooker. However, another botanist, James Edward Smith, soon named a moss genus Hookeria.

Then, Smith formally described the same plant that Salisbury had named. He called it Brodiaea to honor Scottish botanist James Brodie. Smith's description was published in 1810. Some people think Smith did this on purpose to get credit for the genus instead of Salisbury.

Even though Salisbury's name Hookera came first, the names Hookera and Hookeria were too similar. To avoid confusion, scientists decided to keep the names Brodiaea and Hookeria. So, Brodiaea is now a "conserved name," meaning it's officially protected. The main species used to define the group is Brodiaea coronaria.

Where Brodiaea Fits in the Plant World

For a long time, scientists debated where Brodiaea and similar plants belonged. Some put them in the lily family (Liliaceae), others in the onion family (Alliaceae), or the daffodil family (Amaryllidaceae).

In 1996, studies using DNA helped scientists understand these plants better. They decided to bring back an old family name, Themidaceae, for this group. Later, in 2009, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) decided to place Themidaceae as a subfamily called Brodiaeoideae within the larger Asparagaceae family.

Sometimes, the name "Brodiaea" is also used as a common name for three groups of plants: Brodiaea, Dichelostemma, and Triteleia. The last two groups were once thought to be part of the Brodiaea genus.

Types of Brodiaea Species

As of 2013, there are 17 known species of Brodiaea. Many of these have common English names:

Where Cluster-Lilies Grow

Brodiaea species only grow in western North America. They are found from British Columbia in the north, through the West Coast of the United States region, to northwestern Mexico. Most species are endemic to California, meaning they grow only there.

Many Brodiaea plants are special because they can grow in certain types of soil. For example, some grow in serpentine soil, which has a unique chemical makeup. Because of this, some species have very small areas where they can grow. This makes several of them rare or endangered. An example is Brodiaea pallida, which is only found in two places in California.

Growing Cluster-Lilies in Gardens

Many Brodiaea species can be grown in gardens. Plants like B. californica and B. coronaria are good choices for sunny spots. They bloom in early summer, which is later than most other ornamental bulbs. This helps extend the flowering season in a garden.

The flower heads of larger species can be dried. People use them for decorations in winter. Smaller species, like B. terrestris, can be grown in special frames or greenhouses.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Brodiaea para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Cluster-lily Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.