The APG IV system of 2016 (unchanged from the 1998, 2003, and 2009 versions) recognizes this family.[2][1] The family consists of four genera totalling some 160 species.[3]
The members of the family are small to medium herbs, with grass-like leaves and an invisible stem, modified into a corm or a rhizome. The flowers are born on leafless shoots, also called scapes. The flowers are trimerous, radially symmetric. The ovary is inferior, developing into a capsule or a berry.
Curculin is a taste modifying sweet protein that was discovered and from the fruit of a plant in this family (Curculigo latifolia). Consuming it causes water to taste sweet for a duration.