Trilliaceae
E.j. Ecker
Tarbela Dam Colony, Tarbela. (Now at Vancouver, Canada.)
Herbaceous perennials with short, creeping, unbranched rhizomes. Stems erect, unbranched, bases covered with leaf-sheaths. Leaves in whorls of 3 or more, sub-sessile or petiolate; venation reticulate. Flowers bisexual, usually solitary, terminal, rarely in umbels. Perianth segments deciduous or persistent, 4-6-12 in 2 whorls, free. Stamens as many as the perianth segments; filaments linear to flattened; anthers longer than the filaments. Carpels 3-10; ovary superior, 1- 10-locular; placentation parietal or axile; ovules many; styles 3-5. Fruit a berry or a fleshy capsule.
A small family of 4 genera, 2 of which are represented in Pakistan. The family is often included in Liliaceae but differs from it in having terminal whorled leaves, 4-12 stamens and 3-10 carpel.
Acknowledgements: We are grateful to the United States Department of Agriculture for financing this research under P.L. 480. Thanks are also due to Messrs. B.L. Burtt, I.C. Hedge and Miss J. Lamond of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, for their helpful suggestions.
