Melanthieae is a tribe of flowering plants within the family Melanthiaceae. Molecular phylogenetic studies in the 21st century have resulted in a large-scale reassignment of many of its species to different genera; in particular the genus Zigadenus (deathcamases) has been restricted to a single species, Zigadenus glaberrimus. Members of this tribe produce alkaloids that are toxic to both animals and humans.
Description
Like the family as a whole, members of the tribe are "lilioid monocots", i.e. their flowers superficially resemble those of the genus Lilium, with six tepals not differentiated into sepals and petals. As with other lilioid monocots, they were previously included in a broadly defined family Liliaceae. They are found mainly in woodland or alpine habitats in the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere (North America, Central America, and Asia), with one species found in South America. They are perennials, growing from a bulb or rhizome (or both). Other names which have been used with more or less the same circumscription include Veratreae and Melanthiaceae sensu stricto.). A study in 2001 based on both nuclear and plastid gene sequences led to the conclusion that the broadly defined Zigadenus was polyphyletic; in particular the genera Schoenocaulon and Veratrum-Melanthium were nested inside it.
;Anticlea
As currently circumscribed, Anticlea consists of about 11 species, found in Asia, North America and Central America down to Guatemala. Anticlea elegans (the mountain deathcamas) is one of the best known. Like other species in the genus, it grows from bulbs and has flowers with relatively narrow tepals, in this case coloured white to green.
;Melanthium
Melanthium is sometimes included in the closely related genus Veratrum. , the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families recognizes four species, found in the central and eastern United States. Their flowers differ from Veratrum by being arranged in more open and delicate-looking inflorescences and by having tepals which narrow at the base.
;Schoenocaulon <small>A.Gray</small>
Schoenocaulon is a genus of around 25 species. The precise number is unclear; two species were only discovered in 2008, and many occur only in remote regions of Mexico, where their montane forest habitat is under threat. The centre of diversity is in Mexico. They are also found in Central America, with a few species extending into South America, and in the United States, along the eastern part of the border with Mexico and in Florida. They grow from a bulb with a fibrous coat and have a long narrow spike-like inflorescence made up of very small flowers with long protruding stamens.
;Stenanthium
, Stenanthium consists of three or four species (depending on whether S. leimanthoides is recognized) found in the south eastern United States.
thumb|upright|Toxicoscordion venenosum
;Toxicoscordion
Eight species are included in the genus Toxicoscordion,
;Veratrum
Veratrum is found throughout temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The genus has possibly as many as 40 species, depending on how finely some of the widely distributed species are divided and whether the closely related genus Melanthium is included or not. Plants grow from a combination of short rhizomes and bulbs. They generally have quite large leaves and inflorescences in which individual flowers vary in colour from white to green, yellow or purple. They contain a variety of alkaloids which make them poisonous, although some have medical uses. Some species are cultivated for their form as well as their flowers.
;Zigadenus
The genus Zigadenus now contains only a single species Z. glaberrimus, the sandbog deathcamas. Found in the south eastern United States, it grows from thick rhizomes rather than bulbs. The flowers are grouped into a loose inflorescence and are white to cream in colour.