Muscari Alpanicum
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''Muscari'' is a
genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
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 ...
bulb In botany, a bulb is a short underground stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...
ous plants native to
Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...
that produce spikes of dense, most commonly blue, urn-shaped
flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...
s resembling bunches of
grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...
s in the spring. The common name for the genus is grape hyacinth (a name which is also used for the related genera ''
Leopoldia ''Leopoldia'' is a genus of bulbous perennial plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. The genus is widespread around the Mediterranean region and neighboring lands, from the Canary Islands to Iran. ''Leopoldia'' species were f ...
'' and ''
Pseudomuscari ''Pseudomuscari'' is a genus of bulbous perennials in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. They were formerly included in the genus ''Muscari'' (as the Pseudomuscari group, section or subgenus). Species of ''Pseudomuscari'' have flowe ...
'', which were formerly included in ''Muscari''), but they should not be confused with hyacinths. A number of species of ''Muscari'' are used as ornamental garden plants.


Description

The genus ''Muscari'' originated in the
Old World The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...
, including the Mediterranean basin, central and Southern Europe, Northern Africa, Western, Central and Southwest Asia. It has become naturalized elsewhere, including Northern Europe and the United States. Brian Mathew says that many species of grape hyacinths, including not only ''Muscari'' but also the related ''
Leopoldia ''Leopoldia'' is a genus of bulbous perennial plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. The genus is widespread around the Mediterranean region and neighboring lands, from the Canary Islands to Iran. ''Leopoldia'' species were f ...
'' and ''
Pseudomuscari ''Pseudomuscari'' is a genus of bulbous perennials in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. They were formerly included in the genus ''Muscari'' (as the Pseudomuscari group, section or subgenus). Species of ''Pseudomuscari'' have flowe ...
'', are difficult to distinguish., pp. 124–130 They usually have one or more narrow leaves which arise from a bulb. The flowers appear in the spring and form a spike or
raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...
, being held in a close or loose spiral around a central stalk. The flowers often become less tightly spaced as the flower matures. The flower colour varies from pale blue to a very dark blue, almost black in some cases (albino forms are also known). In some species, the upper flowers may be of a colour or shape different from the lower flowers. Individual flowers are composed of six fused tepals forming a spherical to obovoid shape, constricted at the end to form a mouth around which the ends of the tepals show as small lobes or "teeth", which may be of a color different from the rest of the tepal.


Taxonomy

The use of ''muscari'' as part of the name of at least some of the species included in the modern genus can be traced back to Carolus Clusius in 1601, long before the modern rules of botanical nomenclature were established. In 1753,
Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
used the name ''Hyacinthus muscari'' for the plant now called ''
Muscari racemosum ''Muscari racemosum'' is a perennial bulbous flowering plant in the asparagus family Asparagaceae. The members of the genus are commonly known as grape hyacinths. Originally from south-west Turkey where it grows in rocky places, it is sometimes ...
''., search for "Muscari racemosum" In 1754,
Philip Miller Philip Miller Royal Society, FRS (1691 – 18 December 1771) was an English botany, botanist and gardener of Scottish descent. Miller was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden for nearly 50 years from 1722, and wrote the highly popular ...
formally established the genus ''Muscari'' according to modern rules of nomenclature. The name ''muscari'' comes from the Greek ', musk, referring to the scent. Classified in the
family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
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 ...
, subfamily
Scilloideae Scilloideae (named after the genus ''Scilla'', "squill") is a subfamily of bulbous plants within the family ''Asparagaceae''. Scilloideae is sometimes treated as a separate family Hyacinthaceae, named after the genus ''Hyacinth (plant), Hyacinthus ...
, the genus was formerly placed in the
Liliaceae The lily family, Liliaceae, consists of about 15 genera and 610 species of flowering plants within the order Liliales. They are monocotyledonous, perennial, herbaceous, often bulbous geophytes. Plants in this family have evolved with a fai ...
as a member of the tribe Hyacintheae. There are about forty species. The genus was at one time divided into four groups or subgenera: Botryanthus, Pseudomuscari, Leopoldia and Muscarimia. ''
Pseudomuscari ''Pseudomuscari'' is a genus of bulbous perennials in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. They were formerly included in the genus ''Muscari'' (as the Pseudomuscari group, section or subgenus). Species of ''Pseudomuscari'' have flowe ...
'' and ''
Leopoldia ''Leopoldia'' is a genus of bulbous perennial plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. The genus is widespread around the Mediterranean region and neighboring lands, from the Canary Islands to Iran. ''Leopoldia'' species were f ...
'' are now treated as separate genera., search for "Pseudomuscari" or "Leopoldia" The genus ''Muscari'' is now more or less equivalent to the Botryanthus group. A complication in splitting up the broad genus is that Miller's original ''Muscari'' included representatives of at least three of the new genera. Which one should retain the name ''Muscari'' would normally be decided by where the
type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...
was placed; however, Miller did not designate a type species, although the etymology of the genus name points to the species Linnaeus called ''Hyacinthus muscari'' (now ''Muscari racemosum''). The Muscarimia group are retained in ''Muscari'' by the Kew ''
World Checklist of Selected Plant Families The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (usually abbreviated to WCSP) was an "international collaborative programme that provides the latest peer reviewed and published opinions on the accepted scientific names and synonyms of selected p ...
''. Two species have been placed in this group: ''M. macrocarpum'' and ''M. racemosum'' (under the name ''M. muscarimi'').


Species

, the ''World Checklist of Selected Plant Families'' accepts 79 species, including:, select "Taxonomic rank" > "Species"; and click on "Accepted names only". * ''
Muscari adilii ''Muscari'' is a genus of perennial bulbous plants native to Eurasia that produce spikes of dense, most commonly blue, urn-shaped flowers resembling bunches of grapes in the spring. The common name for the genus is grape hyacinth (a name which ...
'' M.B.Güner & H.Duman * ''
Muscari albiflorum ''Muscari'' is a genus of perennial bulbous plants native to Eurasia that produce spikes of dense, most commonly blue, urn-shaped flowers resembling bunches of grapes in the spring. The common name for the genus is grape hyacinth (a name which ...
'' (Täckh. & Boulos) Hosni * ''
Muscari alpanicum ''Muscari'' is a genus (biology), genus of perennial bulbous plants native to Eurasia that produce spikes of dense, most commonly blue, urn-shaped flowers resembling bunches of grapes in the spring. The common name for the genus is grape hyacint ...
'' Schchian * '' Muscari anatolicum'' Cowley & Özhatay * '' Muscari armeniacum'' Leichtlin ex Baker * '' Muscari aucheri'' (Boiss.) Baker * '' Muscari babachii'' Eker & Koyuncu * '' Muscari baeticum'' Blanca * ''
Muscari botryoides ''Muscari botryoides'' is a bulbous perennial plant of the genus ''Muscari'' and one of a number of species and genera known as grape hyacinth. It is sometimes grown as an ornamental plant. The flowers are close together, and are almost totally ...
'' (L.) Mill. * '' Muscari bourgaei'' Baker * '' Muscari cazorlanum'' C.Soriano & al. * '' Muscari commutatum'' Guss. * '' Muscari discolor'' Boiss. & Hausskn. * '' Muscari dolichanthum'' Woronow & Tron * '' Muscari fertile'' Ravenna * '' Muscari filiforme'' Ravenna * '' Muscari hermonense'' Ravenna * '' Muscari hierosolymitanum'' Ravenna * '' Muscari kerkis'' Karlén * '' Muscari kurdicum'' Maroofi * '' Muscari latifolium'' J.Kirk. * '' Muscari lazulinum'' Ravenna * '' Muscari longistylum'' (Täckh. & Boulos) Hosni * '' Muscari macbeathianum'' Kit Tan * '' Muscari macrocarpum'' Sweet * '' Muscari massayanum'' C.Grunert * '' Muscari matritensis'' Ruíz Rejón & al. * '' Muscari microstomum'' P.H.Davis & D.C.Stuart * '' Muscari mirum'' Speta * ''
Muscari neglectum ''Muscari neglectum'' is a perennial bulbous flowering plant in the asparagus family Asparagaceae. Members of this genus are commonly known as grape hyacinths, and ''M. neglectum'' is known as common grape hyacinth or starch grape hyacinth. ''M ...
'' Guss. ex Ten. yn. ''Muscari racemosum'' (L.) Medik. nom. illeg.* '' Muscari olivetorum'' Blanca * '' Muscari parviflorum'' Desf. * '' Muscari pulchellum'' Heldr. & Sart. * ''
Muscari racemosum ''Muscari racemosum'' is a perennial bulbous flowering plant in the asparagus family Asparagaceae. The members of the genus are commonly known as grape hyacinths. Originally from south-west Turkey where it grows in rocky places, it is sometimes ...
'' Mill. yn. ''Muscari muscarimi'' Medik. nom. illeg., ''Muscarimia muscari'' (L.) Losinsk., ''Muscari moschatum'' Willd.* '' Muscari salah-eidii'' (Täckh. & Boulos) Hosni * '' Muscari sandrasicum'' Karlén * '' Muscari sivrihisardaghlarensis'' Yild. & B.Selvi * '' Muscari spreizenhoferi'' (Heldr. ex Osterm.) H.R.Wehrh. * '' Muscari stenanthum'' Freyn * '' Muscari tavoricum'' Ravenna * '' Muscari turcicum'' Uysal et al. * '' Muscari vuralii'' Bagci & Dogu The names of some of the species are somewhat confused, especially in the horticultural literature. Thus the name ''M. racemosum'' is commonly found as an incorrect synonym for ''M. neglectum'', with ''M. muscarimi'' or ''M. moschatum'' being used for the true ''M. racemosum''. ''Muscari fatmacereniae'' was recently described from Turkey.


Species now allocated to other genera

* ''Muscari azureum'' Fenzl, see '' Pseudomuscari azureum'' (Fenzl) Garbari & Greuter * ''Muscari comosum'' (L.) Mill., see '' Leopoldia comosa'' (L.) Parl. * ''Muscari paradoxum'' (Fisch. & C.A.Mey.) K.Koch, see '' Bellevalia paradoxa'' (Fisch. & C.A.Mey.) Boiss.


Cultivation

Some species are among the earliest garden flowers to bloom in the spring. They are planted as
bulb In botany, a bulb is a short underground stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...
s and tend to multiply quickly ( naturalise) when planted in good soils. They prefer well drained sandy soil, that is acid to neutral and not too rich. Naturally found in woodlands or meadows, they are commonly cultivated in lawns, borders, rock gardens and containers. They require little feeding or watering in the summer, and sun or light shade. The UK National Collection of Muscari is held by Richard Hobbs at his Witton Lane garden in Little Plumstead,
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
.


Cultivars

* ''M.'' 'Pink Surprise' was described as "new" in 2011; it has pale pink flowers – a previously unknown colour in the genus – on stems.


References


External links


M. Philippo, Muscaripages




{{Taxonbar, from=Q161151 Asparagaceae genera Flora of Europe Flora of temperate Asia Garden plants of Asia Garden plants of Europe Taxa named by Philip Miller