Pot plants: Bessera elegans, Coral Drops

Classification, origin and description

Common name: Bessera, Coral Drops.
Kind: Bessera.

Family: inserted in the Alliaceae family, but in the specialist literature it is found not only in the Liliaceae, but also in the Amaryllidaceae and Themidaceae.

Etymology: the none reminds the botanist Wilbald S.J.G. von Besser (1784-1842), founder of the Kremenets Botanical Garden in Ukraine.
Origin: Mexico.

Genre description: to this genus belongs the species Bessera splendens, robust and flexible plant that produces showy orange-red flowers; it is still unclear whether the populations with white or purple flowers constitute other species of the genus Bessera, or are forms of the only species currently known.

Bessera elegans flower (photo Timothy Waters www.agathis.info)

Species and varieties

Bessera elegans: originally from Mexico; it has leaves up to 60 cm long and thin, cylindrical or rectangular, almost horizontal; it produces very decorative hanging flowers, orange-red (4-5 cm in diameter), with veins and cream crown, supported by a hollow stem up to 55 cm long; not easy to grow. Rare shapes are known with colors ranging from white to purple-lilac.

Environmental requirements, substrate, fertilizations and special precautions

Temperature: must not fall below 0 ° C.
Light: full sun.
Watering and environmental humidity: little water at the vegetative restart, frequent watering during flowering, gradually reduced until the disappearance of the leaves.
Substrate: rich in organic matter, neutral or slightly acidic, well draining.
Special fertilizations and tricks: administer liquid fertilizer for flowering plants during the vegetative cycle, the last time at the time of flowering.

Multiplication

They multiply by seed or by division of corms (very similar to bulbs), which must be planted in May or even later.

Diseases, pests and adversities

Limacce: in particular during slow sprouting.