''Puschkinia'' 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 four known species of

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

perennials 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 ...

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 ...

. It is native to the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. ''

Puschkinia scilloides ''Puschkinia scilloides'', commonly known as striped squill or Lebanon squill, is a bulbous perennial, native to Western Asia and the Caucasus. Description ''Puschkinia scilloides'' is a small bulbous plant, growing to about tall. It has two na ...

'' is grown as an

ornamental bulbous plant Ornamental bulbous plants, often called ornamental bulbs or just bulbs in gardening and horticulture, are herbaceous perennials grown for ornamental purposes, which have underground or near ground storage organs. Botanists distinguish betwee ...

Description

The leaves are green, strap-like, and grow in pairs. The flowers are borne in early spring in

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 ...

s up to about high. The six

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s are joined at the base to form a tube to about half their length. Like members of the former genus ''Chionodoxa'' (now a section of ''Scilla''), the bases of the

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s are flattened and closely clustered in the middle of the flower; however, unlike ''Chionodoxa'', they are joined to form a cup or corona. In the related genus ''

Scilla ''Scilla'' () is a genus of about 30 to 80 species of bulb-forming perennial plant, perennial herbaceous plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. Sometimes called the squills in English, they are native to woodlands, subalpine ...

'' (squills), the stamens are not joined together. Seeds are borne in three-parted capsules. After the seed ripens in early summer, the plants become dormant until the next

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a he ...

Taxonomy

The genus ''Puschkinia'' was erected by Johann Friedrich Adam in 1805. It is named in honor of the Russian botanist

Apollo Mussin-Pushkin Count Apollos Apollosovich Musin-Pushkin (; February 17, 1760 – April 18, 1805) was a Russian chemist and plant collector. He led a botanical expedition to the Caucasus in 1802 with his friend botanist Friedrich August Marschall von Biebers ...

. Now placed in the subfamily

of the family Asparagaceae, like other

lilioid monocots Lilioid monocots (lilioids, liliid monocots, petaloid monocots, petaloid lilioid monocots) is an informal name used for a grade (biology), grade (grouping of taxa with common characteristics) of five monocot order (biology), orders (Petrosavial ...

, it was once included 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 ...

Species

, the

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 ...

accepted four species: * ''

Puschkinia bilgineri ''Puschkinia'' is a genus of four known species of bulbous perennials in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. It is native to the Caucasus and the Middle East. '' Puschkinia scilloides'' is grown as an ornamental bulbous plant. Descri ...

'' Yildirim – Turkey * ''

Puschkinia kurdistanica ''Puschkinia'' is a genus of four known species of bulbous perennial plant, perennials in the family (biology), family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. It is native to the Caucasus and the Middle East. ''Puschkinia scilloides'' is grown as an ...

'' Ruksans – Turkey * ''

Puschkinia peshmenii ''Puschkinia peshmenii'' is a bulbous perennial from Turkey and Iran, producing flowers in shades of green in spring. Description ''Puschkinia peshmenii'' grows from a bulb about across. Each bulb produces one or two linear green leaves, up to ...

'' Rix & B.Mathew - native to Turkey and Iran * ''

'' Adams (striped squill) - native to the Caucasus, Turkey, northern Iran and Lebanon; found in mountain meadows and stony slopes up to

Cultivation

''Puschkinia scilloides'' is grown as an

, particularly recommended as an early flowering bulb for cool, well drained positions. ''

'' is rare in cultivation.

Culture

In 1993, an illustration of ''Puschkinia scilloides'' was used as a

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...

in Azerbaijan, with a series of other flowers, including '' Iris reticulata'', '' Tulipa systola'' (syn. ''T. persica''), ''

Iris acutiloba ''Iris acutiloba'' is a species in the genus '' Iris'', it is also in the subgenus of '' Iris'' and section ''Oncocyclus''. It is a rhizomatous perennial, from the mountains of the Caucasus and found in Turkey, Armenia Armenia, officially ...

'', ''Iris iberica'' subsp. ''elegantissima'' (syn. ''I. elegantissima'') and '' Tulipa florenskyii''.

References

External links

''Puschkinia'' photographs at Plants of Turkey

BBC: Plant Finder

*
Sys Tax

Martyn Rix, Brian Mathew. PUSCHKINIA PESHMENII: Hyacinthaceae. Curtis's Botanical Magazine Volume 24 Issue 1, Pages 54 - 57, 2007
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2580430 Asparagaceae genera Ephemeral plants Scilloideae Flora of Russia