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Bellevalia

Genus of flowering plants

  • 4 min read
  • 2 chapters

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It includes 81 species native to the Mediterranean Basin of North Africa, southern Europe, and Western Asia, as well as Ukraine, southern European Russia, the Caucasus, and western and Central Asia as far as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan.

Description

Bellevalia species are perennial herbaceous plants. As geophytes, they form bulbs with a membranous sheath ("tunic"). The simple, parallel-veined leaves are basal. Grape-like inflorescences grow terminally on smooth cylindrical flower stems. The numerous flowers are located in the axils of small, membranous bracts. The hermaphroditic flowers are triple. The six identically shaped bracts are one-third to one-half their length and deformed tubular, bell-shaped or funnel-shaped in form. The color of the bracts ranges from white to cream to brown or more rarely from blue to purple. The fruit capsule is triangular in cross section with winged edges. The seeds are more or less spherical, rarely elongated and glossy.

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