Notholirion Explained

Notholirion is a small Asian genus of bulbous plants in the lily family, Liliaceae.^[1] It is closely related to Lilium, but each individual flowers only once, and then dies after producing offsets. The bulb is covered by a tunic. Leaves are basal, produced in autumn and winter.^[2]

Taxonomy

Baker (1874) considered Notholirion to be a subgenus of Fritillaria, but Boissier (1884) separated it as a distinct genus. The evolutionary and phylogenetic relationships between the genera currently included in Liliaceae are shown in the following Cladogram:

Species

List of species:^{[3] [4] [2]}

• Notholirion bulbiferum (Lingelsh.) Stearn - Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Assam, Myanmar, Gansu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan
• Notholirion koeiei Rech.f. - Iran + Iraq
• Notholirion macrophyllum (D.Don) Boiss. - Tibet, Nepal, Sichuan, Yunnan, Bhutan, and Sikkim
• Notholirion thomsonianum (Royle) Stapf - Afghanistan, Himalayas of northern Pakistan + northern India

Bibliography

• Baker. J. G.. John Gilbert Baker. Revision of the Genera and Species of Tulipeae. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 1874. xiv. 76. Fritillaria pp. 251–275. 10.1111/j.1095-8339.1874.tb00314.x.
• Book: Pierre Edmond Boissier

. Boissier. Pierre Edmond. Pierre Edmond Boissier. Flora Orientalis: sive, Enumeratio plantarum in Oriente a Graecia et Aegypto ad Indiae fines hucusque observatarum. 5. Notholirion. 190–191. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/60324#page/198/mode/2up. 1884. H. Georg. Geneva.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Notholirion Wall. ex Boiss.. . n.d.. Plants of the World Online. The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. September 20, 2020.
2. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200085 Flora of China Vol. 24 Page 133 假百合属 jia bai he shu Notholirion Wallich ex Boissier, Fl. Orient. 5: 190. 1882.
3. http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/search?q=Notholirion The Plant List
4. http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/qsearch.do Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families