Tulipeae

The Tulipeae (syn. Tulipoideae) is a tribe of monocotyledon perennial, herbaceous mainly bulbous flowering plants in the Liliaceae (lily) family. As originally conceived by Duby (1828), "Tulipaceae" was a tribe within Liliaceae, consisting of the genera "Tulipa", "Fritillaria" and Lilium.
Description.
Herbaceous non-climbing bulbous plants. Bulbs consisting of a single scale. Anthers pseudo-basifixed. fruit consists of a loculicidal capsule, seeds not winged. Tetrasporic embryo-sac formation with 7–8 nuclei. Nucella having a short base. Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM) non-"Clintonia" type. Chromosomes large - 2–11 μm (1–6 μm in "Gagea"). Genome size (3)4–25(70) pg, x = (9)12. Polyploidy common.
Taxonomy.
Tulipeae remained a core group of the Liliaceae, containing the type genus, Lilium for most of its taxonomic history. For instance, Bentham and Hooker (1883), placed "Lilium" together with "Tulipa" and five other genera in Liliaceae tribe Tulipeae.
In the modern era, Takhtadzhi︠an described the tribe as having four genera:
Later only "Tulipa" and "Erythronium" were included, and "Gagea" was added. Tulipeae has been variously constructed, chiefly as either a tribe of the subfamily Lilioideae, or a subfamily of Liliaceae itself (Tulipoideae). However it has been proposed that "Gagea" should be in its own tribe, the Lloydieae.
The evolutionary and phylogenetic relationships of Tulipeae within Liliaceae are shown in the following Cladogram.
Here, Tulipeae is shown as a clade within the broader construction of Lileae ("sensu lato"), or as a separate biogeographical tribe if the narrow sense of Lileae ("sensu stricto") is adopted, with Lileae and Tulipeae as sister groups. The continuing use of Tulipeae as a separate tribe is supported by several authors.
Genera.
Genera (species)
"Gagea" is sister to the other three genera.