Early taxonomy The plant family Asparagaceae was first named, described, and published in
Genera Plantarum in 1789 by the French botanist
Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, who is particularly noted for his work in developing the concept of plant families. From the time of first introduction until the 21st century, the Asparagaceae was a monotypic family containing only the single genus,
Asparagus, after which the family was named.
Asparagaceae under the APG II system In 2003, the formation of the
APG II plant classification system radically expanded the Asparagaceae to include the genera and species previously contained in seven plant families. In the APG II system, two options were provided as to the circumscription of the family, with Asparagaceae
sensu lato (meaning
in the wider sense) being the broader circumscription of the family documented in the APG II; or, Asparagaceae
sensu stricto (meaning
in the strict sense) consisting of only
Asparagus and
Hemiphylacus. If opting to use Asparagaceae
sensu lato, the paper outlining the APG II system recommended placing the previously recognised family in parentheses after Asparagaceae.''
The paper also recommended including grouping the families Anemarrhenaceae, Anthericaeae, Behniaceae and Herreriaceae with the Agavaceae, noting that in 2000, the Convallariaceae, Dracaenaceae, Eriospermaceae and Nolinaceae had been grouped together in the Ruscaceae. Asparagaceae under the APG III system In 2009, botanists proposed a major revision of the
Asparagales order of plants, that included a vast expansion of three constituent plant families; the
Amaryllidaceae, Asparagaceae and
Xanthorrhoeaceae, to include large number of genera in former plant families by placing them into subfamilies nested within these three plant families. Under the APG III system, the Asparagaceae contain seven subfamilies, and unlike the APG II system, Asparagaceae was only circumscribed in the broad sense (
sensu lato), but the Asparagaceae subfamily
Asparagoideae is roughly equivalent to Asparagaceae (sensu stricto) under the APG II system. Whilst the subfamilies are broadly equivalent to the previous subdivision by families under the APG II system, genera previously included in one previously recognised family may have moved to another subfamily under the APG III system, or even placed into another family outside of the Asparagaceae. ==Genera==