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Do Sansevieria and Dracaena belong in the same family?

Dear Tom,

Just because genera are placed together in a family does not mean they are
interfertile. Have you ever heard of a Yucca X Agave hybrid? Both are in
the family Agavaceae.

They are far more similar to one another than they are to any other group
of plants and that is why are placed in the same family.

In the olden days, all of them have just been dumped in the large amorphous
family Liliaceae but that family is now restricted to a small number of
bulbous genera closely allied to the genus Lilium.

The landmark publication by Dahlgren, Clifford & Yeo (1985) completely
revolutionized how botanists group the monocotyledonous plants into smaller
and more sharply defined families.

Dahlgren, R.M.T.; Clifford, H.T. & Yeo, P.F. (1985) THE FAMILIES OF THE
MONOCOTYLEDONS. Springer-Verlag, 520 pp.

Cereusly Steve

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•Subject: dracaena
•From: Thomas & Clover Schultz
•Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 09:04:58 -0600
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So does this mean that they truly aren't related since they don't
naturally hybridize and flowers are different?  Is this an attempt at
grouping based on superficial evidences?  Just curious.

Have a good one,
Tom
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