Triteleia

Triteleia is a genus of monocotyledon flowering plants also known as triplet lilies. Species are native to western North America, from British Columbia south to California, with one species in northwestern Mexico. However they are most common in California. They are perennial plants growing from a fibrous corm, roughly spherical in shape. They get their name from the fact that all parts of their flowers come in threes. The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group's 2009 revision placed the genus in family Asparagaceae, subfamily Brodiaeoideae (having previously placed treated Brodiaeoideae as a separate family Themidaceae). Other modern authors place it in the family Alliaceae. Both these families are in the order Asparagales. About 16 species are currently recognised in Triteleia, with several of them having well defined subspecies or varieties that have different common names. Some common species that are now placed in genus Triteleia were formerly placed in genus Brodiaea, and as a consequence 'brodiaea' has been incorporated into some of their common names. A 2002 phylogenetic review of related genera found four clades within Triteleia that were all supported with 100 percent jackknife resamplingvalues: