''Pseudomuscari'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

bulb In botany, a bulb is structurally a short 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

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

s 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''. Those who live in the temperate c ...

, 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 ''Hyacinthus''. Scilloideae or ...

. They were formerly included in the genus ''

Muscari ''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 is ...

'' (as the Pseudomuscari group, section or subgenus). Species of ''Pseudomuscari'' have flowers in shades of pale or bright blue, and are small plants with dense flower spikes or

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, 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 produced as the s ...

s. A feature which distinguishes them from ''Muscari'' is the bell-shaped flower which is not constricted at the mouth. One species, '' P. azureum'', is popularly grown in gardens as an ornamental Spring-flowering plant., p. 125 (as the Pseudomuscari group)

Systematics

The genus was formerly included in ''

''. The group of species now placed in ''Pseudomuscari'' was separated off as a section within ''Muscari'' by A.S. Losina-Losinskaja in a 1935 publication and as a subgenus by D.C. Stuart in 1965, but neither name was validly published, and the genus was first formally named by

Fabio Garbari Fabio Garbari (born 1937) is an Italian botanist who has a degree in Biological Science from the University of Pisa awarded in 1958. In 2000–2002 he was a professor in the Department of Botanical Science (') of the University of Pisa. In 2019 h ...

and

Werner Greuter Werner Rodolfo Greuter, (born February 27, 1938) in Genoa, Italy, as a Swiss national, is a botanist. He is the chair of the Editorial Committee for the ''International Code of Botanical Nomenclature'' (''ICBN'') - the ''Tokyo Code'' (1994) and ...

in 1970.

Species

, the ''World Checklist of Selected Plant Families'' accepts 7 species:

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6570177 Scilloideae Asparagaceae genera