.jpg "Emerging Bluebell leaves in the spring")
| Pictures © 2003, FBCP |
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Bluebell - Hyacinthoides non-scripta
Syn - Scilla non-scripta
Familiar perennial native to north western Europe and the British Isles (which is their main stronghold). It often carpets whole woodland floors if the management regime suits its requirements, an can also be found in hedges and on coastal cliffs, common throughout the UK preferring light acid soils. Growing from a creamy white bulb, the leaves are long and narrow, dark green and glossy forming a basal cluster. Pendant bell shaped violet blue flowers 15-20mm (0.6 - 0.8in) long in groups of 4 - 16 appear April - June as a loose spike on a stem growing to about 50cm (19in) high. Each flowers fruits to a single triangular (3 lobed) pod containing small black seeds 3 - 4mm (0.11 - 0.15in) in diameter. Propagates by bulb division in the summer or by seed in the autumn.
The Bluebell forms a dense clump of plants that are fully hardy and grow in partial shade on heavy soil requiring plenty of moisture. Some rarer variants produce pink or white flowers both of which can be seen in Brickfields Park. Bluebells can carpet the ground in suitable woodlands almost to the exclusion of other plants, Early Purple Orchids, which flower at the same time can also be found with Bluebells.
This plant is poisonous.
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