See text Scilloideae (named after the genus Scilla, "squill") is a subfamily of bulbous plants within the family Asparagaceae.

Their flowers have six tepals and six stamens with a superior ovary, which previously placed them within the lily family (Liliaceae), and their leaves are fleshy, mucilaginous, and arranged in a basal rosette.

The Scilloideae, like most lily-like monocots, were at one time placed in a very broadly defined lily family (Liliaceae).

Androecium: composed of 6 stamens (exceptionally 3, as in Albuca, for example), with the filaments free or adnate to the tube, often appendiculate.

[1] When treated as a family, the name Hyacinthaceae is derived from the type genus Hyacinthus, and is usually attributed to August Batsch from ("ex") a 1797 publication by Moritz Borkhausen.

[9] Aphyllanthoideae Agavoideae Brodiaeoideae Scilloideae Lomandroideae Asparagoideae Nolinoideae Although generally agreeing on the main division of the Asparagaceae into two clades, studies have produced slightly different relationships among the Agavoideae, Aphyllanthoideae, Brodiaeoideae and Scilloideae.

[6] Detailed historical accounts of taxonomic issues relating to the modern subfamily Scilloideae have been provided by Pfosser & Speta (1999)[10] and Chase et al.

At one extreme, e.g. in the Cronquist system of 1968, they have been regarded as one large family (Liliaceae sensu lato).

[12] In the 1870s, Baker used tribes to divide up the Liliaceae s.l.. introducing the Hyacintheae, Scilleae, Massonieae, and Chlorogaleae.

[19] Morphology and chromosome analysis were supplemented by chemotaxonomy, due to the presence of cardiac steroids, such as the bufadienolids in the Urgineoideae and cardenolids in Ornithogaloideae.

Even Linnaean genera such as Hyacinthus, Scilla and Ornithoglum proved heterogeneous and characters useful in other families failed to define satisfactory taxa.

[citation needed] Modern classification systems for plants are largely derived from molecular phylogenetic analysis.

The Hyacinthaceae was one of these optional smaller families, which could alternatively be sunk into a broadly defined Asparagaceae.

[21] This compromise approach was abandoned in the APG III system of 2009, which allowed only the broader families.

The paper presenting the system states "The area around Asparagaceae is difficult from the standpoint of circumscription.

are heterogeneous and poorly characterized, Asparagaceae s.s., Agavaceae, Laxmanniaceae, Ruscaceae and even Hyacinthaceae have few if any distinctive features.

"[22] At the same time, Chase et al. provided subfamilies to replace the alternative narrowly defined families of APG II.

[3] Many sources have adopted the APG III system; for example, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families places genera such as Hyacinthus only in the broadly defined Asparagaceae.

[6] In 1990, Pfosser and Speta stated that their earlier classification of the Hyacinthaceae into the subfamilies Hyacinthoideae, Ornithogaloideae, Oziroeoideae and Urgineoideae continued to be supported by ongoing studies.

[5] Oziroëeae Ornithogaleae Urgineeae Pseudoprospero Massoniinae Hyacinthinae The exact boundaries between genera within these tribes remains controversial;[10][24][25] the situation has been described as being in a "state of flux".

[29] Both historically and as of March 2013[update], there has been "considerable disagreement over generic limits" in the remaining Scilloideae, with different sources listing from 15 to 45 genera for sub-Saharan Africa alone.

[10] Unless otherwise noted, the list below is based on genera accepted by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families as in the family Asparagaceae (with synonyms from the same source),[30] with assignments to the subfamily Scilloideae based on the Germplasm Resources Information Network.

[31] As noted above, other sources divide up some of these genera, creating a significantly larger number; thus the genus Ornithogalum as conceived by Manning et al. (2009) is divided by Martínez-Azorín et al. (2011) into a more narrowly circumscribed Ornithogalum plus an additional 11 genera.

Scilloideae are found in temperate to tropical habitats, but are more diverse in areas of Mediterranean climate (i.e., with a pronounced dry season during the summer).

The showy flowers of many species of the subfamily are pollinated by a wide range of insects including bees, wasps, flies and moths, as well as birds.

[citation needed] Many members of the subfamily are popular garden plants, such as Hyacinthus, Muscari, Scilla, Puschkinia, Hyacinthoides, and Ornithogalum (including those formerly placed in Galtonia).

[citation needed] Many Scilloideae produce poisonous steroidal saponins such as bufadienolides and cardenolides, making them inedible.

Scilliroside (a bufadienolide) is used to poison rats, traditionally by spreading dried chips of Drimia maritima bulbs.