Fessia

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Monocots
Ordo: Asparagales

Familia: Asparagaceae
Subfamilia: Scilloideae
Tribus: Hyacintheae
Subtribus: Hyacinthinae
Genus: Fessia
Species: F. assadii – F. bisotunensis – F. furseorum – F. gorganica – F. greilhuberi – F. hohenackeri – F. khorassanica – F. olangensis – F. parwanica – F. purpurea – F. puschkinioides – F. raewskiana – F. vvedenskyi
Name

Fessia Speta, Phyton (Horn) 38: 100 (1998).

Type species: Fessia hohenackeri (Fisch. & C.A.Mey.) Speta, Phyton (Horn) 38: 101 (1998).

Synonyms

Homotypic
Scilla sect. Fessia (Speta) Mordak, Konspekt Fl. Kavkaza 2: 126 (2006).

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Asia-Temperate
Middle Asia
Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan.
Caucasus
Transcaucasus.
Western Asia
Afghanistan, Iran.
Asia-Tropical
Indian Subcontinent
Pakistan, West Himalaya.

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Speta, F. 1998. Systematische Analyse der Gattung Scilla L. s.l. (Hyacinthaceae). Phyton (Horn) 38(1): 1–141. PDF Reference page.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2021. Fessia in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2021 Aug 5. Reference page.

Fessia is a genus of bulbous flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae (also treated as the family Hyacinthaceae).[2] It is distributed from Iran to Central Asia and Pakistan.[1]

Description

Species of Fessia grow from bulbs, which are covered by a gray or black tunic, purple inside. Each bulb produces one or more flower stems (scapes) bearing whitish to blue or violet flowers. The stamens have pale blue anthers. The black seeds are globe or drop shaped.[3]

A number of species of Fessia, often under their earlier names in the genus Scilla, are grown by gardeners specializing in ornamental bulbous plants; they are hardy but some need a dry period in summer. F. puschkinioides (syn. Scilla puchkinioides) is described as "an easy to grow hardy species".[4]
Systematics

The genus Fessia was created by Franz Speta in 1998. All the species were previously included in a more broadly defined genus Scilla.[5] The genus is placed in the tribe Hyacintheae (or the subfamily Hyacinthoideae by those who use the family Hyacinthaceae).[6]
Species

As of March 2013, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families recognized 11 species:[5]

Fessia bisotunensis (Speta) Speta
Fessia furseorum (Meikle) Speta
Fessia gorganica (Speta) Speta
Fessia greilhuberi (Speta) Speta
Fessia hohenackeri (Fisch. & C.A.Mey.) Speta
Fessia khorassanica (Meikle) Speta
Fessia parwanica (Speta) Speta
Fessia purpurea (Griff.) Speta
Fessia puschkinioides (Regel) Speta
Fessia raewskiana (Regel) Speta
Fessia vvedenskyi (Pazij) Speta

References

"Fessia", World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, retrieved 2013-04-02
Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards), "Asparagales: Scilloideae", Angiosperm Phylogeny Website, retrieved 2013-04-02
"Fessia Speta", eMonocot, archived from the original on 2013-04-19, retrieved 2013-04-02
Mathew, Brian (1987), The Smaller Bulbs, London: B.T. Batsford, ISBN 978-0-7134-4922-8, pp. 152–153, 156
Search for "Fessia", World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, retrieved 2013-04-02
Pfosser, Martin; Speta, Franz (1999). "Phylogenetics of Hyacinthaceae based on plastid DNA sequences" (PDF). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 86 (4): 852–875. doi:10.2307/2666172. JSTOR 2666172.