Page 30 - Lesson Notes-Morphologyof flowering plant

showing world wide distribution. About 200 species are available in India.
3. Habit
Usually perennial herbs, perenating by underground rhizomes, corms or bulbs, rarely
shrubs or climbers (e.g., Smilax, Gloriosa, etc).
4. Vegetative Characters
(i) Root Generally adventitious, fibrous or fleshy (e.g., Asparagus).
(ii) Stem Herbaceous or woody. In some species underground bulbs or rhizomes.
(iii) Leaves Mostly basal, alternate, linear, exstipulate with parallel venation.
5. Floral Characters
(i) Inflorescence Mostly racemose, sometimes cymose, rarely solitary.
(ii) Flower Bracteate, pedicellate, actinomorphic, incomplete, bisexual, trimerous and
hypogynous.
(a) Perianth Tepal six (3 + 3), often united into tube, valvate aestivation.
(b)polyandrous, opposite to tepals, sometimes epiphyllous.
(c) Gynoecium Tricarpellary, syncarpous, trilocular with many ovules, axile
placentation, rarely unilocular with parietal placentation, ovary superior, style simple
with three lobed stigma.
(d) Fruit A loculated capsule, rarely a berry.
(e) Seed Endospermic, embryo curved or straight.
(f) Floral Formula by

Economic Importance with Examples
Plants belonging to this family has their importance in the following fields
(i) Food Allium cepa (onion), Allium sativum (garlic) young shoots and fleshy roots of
Asparagus (shatavar) are used as vegetables.
(ii) Medicines Aloe leaves are used to cure piles, liver problems. Roots of Smilax are
used as blood purifier. Raw onion is useful in constipation, diarrhoea and cholera.
Dried corms of Colchicum autumnale (meadow saffron) are used against
rheumatism and gout.
(iii) Ornamentals The common ornamentals are Ruscus, Yucca, Aloe, Asparagus,
Gloriosa, Smilax, tulips, lilies, etc.
(iv) Fibres The fibre yielding plants of IHy family are Yucca filamentosa, Sansevieria
roxburghiana, etc.