In the classification system currently used for the Plant Kingdom, a Family represents a wide range of plants that share certain specific characteristics in common. One of the largest plant families is Asteracea (formerly Compositae) which includes over 20,000 species. Common garden plants that belong in this family would include Yarrow (Achillea), Aster (Aster), Cupid's Dart (Catananche), Mums (Chrysanthemum), Tickseed (Coreopsis), Coneflower (Echinacea), Sunflower (Helianthus) and many, many others.

For a long time, hostas were considered to be part of the Liliaceae Family probably because their flowers are similar to those of many lilies. Like daylilies (Hemerocallis), the flowers of hosta plants each open for just one day.

In 1987, the Royal Botanic Garden, at Kew, England adopted a new way of classifying monocotyledons and moved hostas to a Plant Family of their own called Hostaceae. Taxonomists, however, are still debating this issue (as they are paid to do, I guess) and some feel that hosta should be in the Agavaceae Family along with such plants as asparagus and yucca. Oh, well. But, for now, Hostaceae is the place hostas call home. Like so much of hosta nomenclature...stay tuned for future updates.