Prospero (plant)

Genus of flowering plants

For other uses, see Prospero (disambiguation).

Prospero

Prospero autumnale
Scientific classification
Kingdom:  | Plantae
Clade:  | Tracheophytes
Clade:  | Angiosperms
Clade:  | Monocots
Order:  | Asparagales
Family:  | Asparagaceae
Subfamily:  | Scilloideae
Genus:  | Prospero
Salisb.[1]

Prospero is a genus of bulbous flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae (also treated as the family Hyacinthaceae).[2] It is distributed in Europe, around the Mediterranean, and through the Middle East to the Caucasus.[1]

## Description

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Species of Prospero grow from bulbs, the leaves and flowers appearing in the autumn and dying down in spring. The leaves are relatively narrow. Each bulb produces one to four flowering stems (scapes) bearing dense racemes of pink to violet flowers. The 4–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in) long tepals are not joined together. The stamens have filaments coloured like the tepals and short purple anthers. The dark brown seeds are more-or-less oblong.[3]

## Systematics

[edit]

The genus Prospero was included in a posthumously published work including names and descriptions by Richard Salisbury in 1866. However, some species then placed in the genus, such as P. hyacinthoideum and P. lingulatum, are currently placed in other genera.[4] Franz Speta and co-workers from the 1970s onwards split up the broadly defined genus Scilla, placing many species into separate genera.[5] The modern understanding of Prospero dates from 1982, with Speta's re-assignment of Scilla autumnalis (among other species) to Prospero.[4]

The genus is placed in the tribe Hyacintheae (or the subfamily Hyacinthoideae by those who use the family Hyacinthaceae).[6]

### Species

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As of July 2025[update], Plants of the World Online accepts 17 species:[7]

1. Prospero autumnale (L.) Speta
2. Prospero battagliae Speta
3. Prospero corsicum (Boullu) J.-M.Tison
4. Prospero cudidaghense Firat & Yıldırım
5. Prospero depressum Speta
6. Prospero elisae Speta
7. Prospero fallax (Steinh.) Speta
8. Prospero hanburyi (Baker) Speta
9. Prospero hierae C.Brullo, Brullo, Giusso, Pavone & Salmeri
10. Prospero hierapytnense Speta
11. Prospero idaeum Speta
12. Prospero minimum Speta
13. Prospero obtusifolium (Poir.) Speta
14. Prospero paratethycum Speta
15. Prospero rhadamanthi Speta
16. Prospero seisumsianum (Rukšāns & Zetterl.) Yıldırım
17. Prospero talosii (Tzanoud. & Kypr.) Speta

## References

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1. ^ a b "Prospero", World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, retrieved 2013-04-08
2. ^ Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards), "Asparagales: Scilloideae", Angiosperm Phylogeny Website, retrieved 2014-02-25
3. ^ "Prospero Salisb.", eMonocot, archived from the original on 2013-07-06, retrieved 2013-04-08
4. ^ a b "Search for Prospero", World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, retrieved 2013-04-08
5. ^ Trávníček, Bohumil; Duchoslav, Martin; Šarhanová, Petra & Šafářová, Lenka (2009), "Squills (Scilla s.lat., Hyacinthaceae) in the flora of the Czech Republic, with taxonomical notes on Central-European squill populations" (PDF), Acta Musei Moraviae, Scientiae Biologicae (Brno), 94: 157–205, retrieved 2013-04-09
6. ^ Pfosser, Martin; Speta, Franz (1999), "Phylogenetics of Hyacinthaceae based on plastid DNA sequences" (PDF), Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 86 (4): 852–875, Bibcode:1999AnMBG..86..852P, doi:10.2307/2666172, JSTOR 2666172
7. ^ "Prospero Salisb". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 9 July 2025.

Taxon identifiers

Prospero|

* Wikidata: Q14756106
* Wikispecies: Prospero
* APDB: 194033
* BOLD: 618719
* CoL: 8W2Q6
* EoL: 5899224
* EPPO: 1QRQG
* GBIF: 2768058
* GRIN: 19811
* iNaturalist: 415085
* IPNI: 24680-1
* IRMNG: 1083849
* NCBI: 82038
* Open Tree of Life: 137917
* POWO: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:24680-1
* Tropicos: 40016490
* WFO: wfo-4000031238