Bessera

Bessera is a genus of Mexican plants in the cluster lily subfamily within the asparagus family.[4][5] It is a small genus of 3 known species of mostly herbaceous flowering plants with corms.[3] They have flowers with petals and petaloid sepals (tepals) with compound pistils.

Bessera
Bessera elegans
1839 illustration[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Subfamily: Brodiaeoideae
Genus: Bessera
Schult.f. 1829, conserved name not Schult. 1809 (Boraginaceae) nor Spreng. 1815 (Putranjivaceae) nor Vell. 1825 (Nyctaginaceae)[2]
Synonyms[3]
  • Pharium Herb.
  • Behria Greene

The genus is named for Austrian and Russian botanist Wilibald Swibert Joseph Gottlieb von Besser (1784–1842).

Bessera elegans, called coral drops, is cultivated and is a half-hardy Mexican herbaceous plant growing from corms with drooping terminal umbels of showy red-and-white colored flowers.

Taxonomy

Species

Current species include:[3]

  1. Bessera elegans Schult.f. — central to southern Mexico.
  2. Bessera tenuiflora (Greene) J.F.Macbr. — Baja California Sur state, including the southern Baja California Peninsula and Gulf of California islands; and the coastal region of mainland Northwestern Mexico.
  3. Bessera tuitensis R.Delgad. — Jalisco state in coastal southwestern Mexico.

Former species

Some plants formerly classified as Bessera species have been reclassified under other genera, which include: Androstephium, Drypetes, Flueggea, Guapira, and Pulmonaria.
Former species include:[2][3]

References
  1. Edwards's Botanical Register; Consisting of Coloured Figures of Exotic Plants Cultivated in British Gardens; with their History and Mode of Treatment. London 25: t. 34 (1839). sulivanica
  2. Tropicos, search for Bessera
  3. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  4. Stevens, P.F., Angiosperm Phylogeny Website: Asparagales: Brodiaeoideae
  5. Govaerts, R. (1996). World Checklist of Seed Plants 2(1, 2): 1-492. Continental Publishing, Deurne.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.