Brimeura is a small genus of bulb-forming perennial plants in the family Asparagaceae (order Asparagales), placed within the subfamily Scilloideae, tribe Hyacintheae, and subtribe Hyacinthinae. Plants are monocotyledonous, producing narrow, strap-like leaves and slender stems that bear bluebell-like, pendant flowers in spring. Flower color is typically blue to violet, as the name of the best-known species, Brimeura amethystina, suggests.
The genus is native to southeastern Europe and certain islands of the western Mediterranean. Brimeura amethystina, known from the Pyrenees and formerly classified as Hyacinthus amethystinus, is the most widely cultivated member and holds the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. The remaining species — B. fastigiata (Mallorca, Menorca, Corsica, and Sardinia) and B. duvigneaudii (Mallorca) — have restricted island distributions.
Etymology
The genus name Brimeura was coined by the English botanist Richard Anthony Salisbury in honour of Marie de Brimeu, a seventeenth-century Netherlandish botanist and horticulturalist.
Distribution
Brimeura is native to southeastern Europe and islands of the western Mediterranean. B. amethystina grows in the Pyrenees; B. fastigiata occurs on Mallorca, Menorca, Corsica, and Sardinia; B. duvigneaudii is restricted to Mallorca.
Taxonomy Notes
The genus was previously merged into Hyacinthus (e.g., Brimeura amethystina was long known as Hyacinthus amethystinus) before being separated as Brimeura within the subfamily Scilloideae of Asparagaceae. GBIF records only one accepted descendant taxon, reflecting the genus's narrow circumscription.
