{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{Automatic taxobox |taxon = Bessera |image = 34 Bessera elegans.jpg |image_caption = ''Bessera elegans''<br>1839 illustration<ref>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</ref> |authority = Schult.f. 1829, conserved name not Schult. 1809 (Boraginaceae) nor Spreng. 1815 (Putranjivaceae) nor Vell. 1825 (Nyctaginaceae)<ref name=marcia>[http://www.tropicos.org/NameSearch.aspx?name=Bessera&commonname= Tropicos, search for Bessera]</ref> |synonyms_ref=<ref name=powo>{{cite web |title=''Bessera'' Schult.f. |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:331147-2 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=9 July 2025}}</ref> |synonyms= *''Pharium'' <small>Herb.</small> }}
'''''Bessera''''' is a genus of Mexican plants in the cluster lily subfamily within the asparagus family.<ref>{{citation |last=Stevens |first=P.F. |title=Angiosperm Phylogeny Website: Asparagales: Brodiaeoideae |url=http://www.mobot.org/mobot/research/apweb/orders/asparagalesweb.htm#Themidaceae }}</ref><ref>Govaerts, R. (1996). World Checklist of Seed Plants 2(1, 2): 1-492. Continental Publishing, Deurne.</ref> It is a small genus of 5 known species of mostly herbaceous flowering plants with corms.<ref name="hagataha">[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=300572 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]</ref> They have flowers with petals and petaloid sepals (tepals) with compound pistils.
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=== Plants of the World Online currently accepts four species:<ref name = powo/> *''Bessera elegans'' <small>Schult.f.</small> — central to southern Mexico. *''Bessera elegantissima'' <small>E.Gándara, Ortiz-Brunel, Art.Castro & Ruiz-Sanchez</small> *''Bessera ramirezii'' <small>E.Gándara, Ortiz-Brunel, Art.Castro & Ruiz-Sanchez</small> *''Bessera tuitensis'' <small>R.Delgad.</small> — Jalisco state in coastal southwestern Mexico.
===Former species=== Some species formerly placed in ''Bessera'' have been reclassified to other genera, including ''Androstephium, Drypetes, Flueggea, Guapira'', and ''Pulmonaria''.<br> Former species include:<ref name=marcia/><ref name="hagataha"/> * ''Bessera azurea — Pulmonaria angustifolia'' * ''Bessera breviflora — Androstephium breviflorum'' * ''Bessera calycantha — Guapira opposita'' * ''Bessera inermis — Flueggea virosa'' * ''Bessera spinosa — Drypetes alba'' * ''Bessera tenuiflora'' <small>(Greene) J.F.Macbr.</small> — ''Behria tenuiflora'' {{small|Greene}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
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Category:Brodiaeoideae Category:Asparagaceae genera Category:Endemic flora of Mexico Category:Flora of Northwestern Mexico Category:Flora of Central Mexico Category:Flora of Southwestern Mexico
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