Hyacinthoides non-scripta (L.) Chouard

English Bluebell

© SRTurner

Family - Liliaceae

Habit - Perennial forb from a bulb.

	Bulb.
© SRTurner

Stems - None.

	Plant base.
© SRTurner

Leaves - Basal rosette of 6-12 leaves, linear, 7-16 mm wide, flat or slightly folded longitudinally, glabrous.

	Leaves.
© SRTurner

	Leaf blades.
© SRTurner

Inflorescence - Raceme on scape to 50 cm, the flowers on stalks and subtended by bracts, these narrowly triangular to linear, blue.

	Inflorescence.
© SRTurner

Flowers - Perianth narrowly bell-shaped, the lobes flaring to recurved at the tips, blue, fragrant. Stamens 3.

	Flowers and bracts.
© SRTurner

	Flowers.
© SRTurner

	Flowers.
© SRTurner

	Flower.
© SRTurner

Fruits - Capsules, subglobose, 3-lobed, loculicidally dehiscenct. Seeds 3-30, black, globose to ellipsoid.

	Immature fruit.
© SRTurner

	Fruit, transverse section.
© SRTurner

Flowering - April - May.

Habitat - Old gardens and homesites, escaped or persisting from former cultivation.

Origin - Native to Europe.

Lookalikes - Hyacinthus orientalis, other cultivated species and forms.

Other info. - This plant probably does not occur in Missouri except under cultivation, or persisting from former cultivation. Naturalized populations exist in the Great Lakes region and the Pacific Northwest. The plant is highly regarded in the U.K., where it is protected by law and considered an indicator species of old-growth forest. The leaves contain an array of secondary metabolites, including glycosides and alkaloids, and should be considered toxic.

Photographs taken at Shaw Nature Reserve, Franklin County, MO, 5-8-2014, 4-27-2021, and 5-5-2021 (SRTurner).