Melanthiaceae is a family of flowering perennial herbs in the Northern Hemisphere.^[1] The family has been recognized by relatively few taxonomists, and the circumscription has varied. Early authors considered these plants to belong to the family Liliaceae, in part because both their sepals and petals closely resemble each other and are often large and showy like the flowers of the Lily Family.,^[1] while some more recent taxonomists have placed them in a family Trilliaceae. The most authoritative modern treatment, however, the APG II system, of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system, of 1998), does recognize such a family and places it in the order Liliales, in the clade monocots. As circumscribed by APG II it includes 11-16 genera of the plants that sometimes have been treated as family .

Familiar members of the family include Paris herb (Paris quadrifolia) and the trilliums.

Birth defects in sheep grazing on Veratrum californicum provided key insights into developmental biology in the 20th century

Trilliums (here Trillium cernuum) are fairly common woodland spring ephemerals in temperate North America and Asia

Genera

• Amianthium
• Anticlea
• Chamaelirium
• Chionographis
• Helonias
• Heloniopsis
• Melanthium
• Paris (including Daiswa and Kinugasa)
• Pseudotrillium
• Schoenocaulon
• Stenanthium
• Toxicoscordion
• Trillidium
• Xerophyllum
• Ypsilandra
• Zigadenus

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Zomlefer, WB; NH Williams, WM Whitten, WS Judd (2001). "Generic circumscriptions and relationships in the tribe Melanthieae (Liliales, Melanthiaceae), with emphasis on Zigadenus: Evidence from ITS and TRNL-F sequence date". American Journal of Botany (Botanical Society of America) 88 (9): 1657–1669. doi:10.2307/3558411. JSTOR 3558411. PMID 21669700.