Editing Scilloideae (section)

=== Modern classifications ===
[[File:Glory of the Snow in the snow.JPG|thumb|upright=0.68|''[[Chionodoxa luciliae]]'', glory-of-the-snow]]
Modern classification systems for plants are largely derived from [[molecular phylogenetics|molecular phylogenetic analysis]]. The initial molecular analysis of the Liliaceae ''s.l.'' was based on the Dahlgren system, as for example in the work by Chase et al. in 1995.<ref name=ChasDuvaHillConr95/> When it was discovered that the Dahlgren families were not [[monophyly|monophyletic]], the tendency was to create new families out of each identified [[clade]], as in the first [[Angiosperm Phylogeny Group]] system of 1998, the [[APG system]]. This placed many lilioid families and genera in the order [[Asparagales]] (a term derived from Dahlgren, and the largest monocot order). One of the 29 families into which the Asparagales were divided was the Hyacinthaceae.<ref name=APG1/>

With further work it was evident that these 29 families, some of which had few genera, could be grouped into larger clades. The [[APG II system]] of 2003 was a compromise. It divided the Asparagales into 14 broadly defined families, while allowing an alternative system in which some of the larger families could be replaced by smaller ones. The Hyacinthaceae was one of these optional smaller families, which could alternatively be sunk into a broadly defined Asparagaceae.<ref name=APG2/>

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. Although Asparagaceae s.l. are heterogeneous and poorly characterized, Asparagaceae s.s., Agavaceae, Laxmanniaceae, Ruscaceae and even Hyacinthaceae have few if any distinctive features."<ref name="APG3"/>  At the same time, Chase et al. provided subfamilies to replace the alternative narrowly defined families of APG II. The Hyacinthaceae became the subfamily Scilloideae of the family Asparagaceae.<ref name=ChasReveFay09/>

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.<ref name="WCSP_278565"/> Other sources prefer to retain the narrower families of APG II; for example, Seberg et al. say that it "remains a moot point whether the difficult-to-recognize bracketed families of APG II are a worse or a better choice than the equally difficult-to-recognize subfamilies of APG III", and in their analyses of the phylogeny of the Asparagales they continue to use families such as Hyacinthaceae.<ref name=SebePeteDaviPire12/>