''Bessera elegans'', also known by the common name coral drops, is a

cormous Corm, bulbo-tuber, or bulbotuber is a short, vertical, swollen, underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ that some plants use to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat ( perennation). The word '' ...

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the family ''

Asparagaceae Asparagaceae (), known as the asparagus family, is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots. The family name is based on the edible garden asparagus, '' Asparagus officinalis''. This family includes both ...

'', from

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

.Rhs.org.uk. (2020). Bessera elegans , RHS Gardening. nlineAvailable at: https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/24712/Bessera-elegans/Details ccessed 16 Feb. 2020

Description

*Height: Up to 70 cm. *Flowers: Umbels of pendant, showy scarlet-and-white coloured flowers. *Leaves: Attenuated, erect leaves.

Distribution

Native to central and southern Mexico, ''B. elegans'' is also cultivated as an ornamental.

Gallery

Image:Bessera elegans plant.jpg, ''B. elegans'' growing in the alpine house at

RHS Garden, Wisley RHS Garden Wisley is a garden run by the Royal Horticultural Society in Wisley, Surrey, south of London. It is one of five gardens run by the society, the others being Harlow Carr, Hyde Hall, Rosemoor, and Bridgewater (which opened on 18 Ma ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Image:Bessera elegans inflorescence.jpg, ''B. elegans'' inflorescence. Image:Bessera elegans flower.jpg, ''B. elegans'' flower detail.

References

External links

''Bessera elegans''
at

The Plant List The Plant List was a list of botanical names of species of plants created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Missouri Botanical Garden and launched in 2010. It was intended to be a comprehensive record of all known names of plant specie ...

''Bessera elegans''
at

Tropicos Tropicos is an online botanical database containing taxonomic information on plants, mainly from the Neotropical realm ( Central, and South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Sou ...

Brodiaeoideae Endemic flora of Mexico Flora of Central Mexico Flora of Southern Mexico Plants described in 1829 {{Asparagaceae-stub