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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]

• Bessera azurea — Pulmonaria angustifolia
• Bessera breviflora — Androstephium breviflorum
• Bessera calycantha — Guapira opposita
• Bessera inermis — Flueggea virosa
• Bessera spinosa — Drypetes alba

References

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