Editing Scilloideae (section)

{{Short description|Subfamily of bulbous monocot plants}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| taxon = Scilloideae
| image = Scilla bifolia 070406.jpg
| image_caption = ''[[Scilla bifolia]]''
| authority = [[Gilbert Thomas Burnett|Burnett]]<ref name=Burn35/>
| subdivision_ranks = [[Genus|Genera]]
| subdivision = See text
| synonyms =
* Hyacinthaceae <small>[[August Johann Georg Karl Batsch|Batsch]] ex [[Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen|Bork.]]</small>
* Scilleae
| synonyms_ref = <ref name=IPNI/>
}}
'''Scilloideae''' (named after the genus ''[[Scilla]]'', "squill") is a [[subfamily]] of [[bulb]]ous plants within the family ''[[Asparagaceae]]''. Scilloideae is sometimes treated as a separate family '''Hyacinthaceae''', named after the genus ''[[Hyacinth (plant)|Hyacinthus]]''. Scilloideae or Hyacinthaceae include many familiar garden plants such as ''[[Hyacinth (plant)|Hyacinth]]us'' (hyacinths), ''[[Hyacinthoides]]'' (bluebells), ''[[Muscari]]'' (grape hyacinths) and ''[[Scilla]]'' and ''[[Puschkinia]]'' (squills or scillas). Some are important as [[cut flowers]].

Scilloideae are distributed mostly in [[Mediterranean climate]]s, including [[South Africa]], [[Central Asia]] and [[South America]]. Their flowers have six tepals and six stamens with a [[Ovary (botany)#Superior ovary|superior ovary]], which previously placed them within the [[Liliaceae|lily family]] (Liliaceae), and their leaves are fleshy, [[mucilage|mucilaginous]], and arranged in a [[rosette (botany)|basal rosette]].

The Scilloideae, like most [[lilioid monocot|lily-like monocots]], were at one time placed in a very broadly defined lily family (Liliaceae). The subfamily is recognized in modern classification systems such as the [[APG III system]] of 2009. It is also treated as the separate family Hyacinthaceae, as it is by many researchers and was in earlier APG systems. Determining the boundaries between genera within the Scilloideae is an active area of research. The number of genera varies widely from source to source, from about 30 to about 70. The situation has been described as being in a "state of flux".<ref name=ChasReveFay09/>