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Plants & Fungi
Hyacinthoides non-scripta
EOL Text
The bluebell has a wide distribution throughout Britain, but is absent from Orkney and Shetland (2); its range appears to be fairly stable (6). It is also found in western Europe from central Spain as far north as the Netherlands, and has become naturalised in parts of central Europe (2).
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Rights holder/Author | Copyright Wildscreen 2003-2008 |
Source | http://www.arkive.org/bluebell/hyacinthoides-non-scripta/ |
Hyacinthoides non-scripta the British bluebell is perhaps the most recognisable and best loved of our spring flowers. The British bluebell carpets our woodland floors in countless millions, however this most characteristic of British plants has been the subject of growing concern as its survival is threatened.Hyacinthoides non-scriptathe British bluebell is a close relative of the Spanish bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica).Cultivars of the Spanish bluebell are now more commonly grown in British gardens than the British bluebell. Spanish bluebells are often incorrectly sold as British bluebells.When garden waste is fly-tipped in the countryside the alien Spanish bluebells become established, interbreeding with the native British bluebells changing them forever.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Dr Fred Rumsey, Natural History Museum |
Source | No source database. |
Plants 20–30 cm; bulb 1–1.5 mm diam. Leaves 3–6; blade linear to linear-lanceolate, 20–50 cm × 7–15(–25) mm. Racemes 6–12-flowered, 1-sided, apex drooping. Flowers erect in bud, all becoming pendent, fragrant; perianth cylindrical-campanulate; tepals erect proximally, reflexed distally, violet-blue or rarely white or pink, oblong-lanceolate, 1.5–2 cm; stamens unequal, outer inserted near middle of perianth, inner near base; anthers cream; pedicel 4–10 mm, ± equaling perianth. 2n = 16, 24.
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Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242101671 |
Hyacinthoides non-scripta the British bluebell is similar to the closely related Spanish Bluebell, Hyacinthoides hispanica, with which it interbreeds, giving rise to hybrids (Hyacinthoides. x massartiana). These then form a morphological continuum between the two species making identification difficult.Spanish Bluebells have
- more open, almost scentless flowers without reflexing tepals
- the outer and inner whorls of filaments are more similar to one another in length
- attached by less than half their length to the tepals
- anthers and pollen are blue
Evolution
Molecular studies (Grundmann et al., 2010) indicate Hyacinthoides non-scripta and Hyacinthoides hispanica share an ancestor. Hyacinthoides non-scripta may have originally been derived from Hyacinthoides hispanica.Hyacinthoides non-scripta developed in isolation, over 8,000 years, its range to the north of that for Hyacinthoides hispanica. Ancient areas of overlap which still support intermediate plants, similar to those now found around Britain’s urban areas, can be identified in northern-central Spain.Hybrids are intermediate in all respects, the pollen a pale greeny-blue colour.Detailed molecular studies have now been performed on bluebells from the UK and the Iberian peninsular, where Spanish, British and other species of bluebell occur as natives.The first of a series of papers on this work was recently published in which the taxonomy and nomenclature for the genus Hyacinthoides as a whole reviewed and revised and 3 new species names established
Genetics
- The species is a diploid with 2n=16 chromosomes (Grundmann et al., 2010).
- Older records of 2n=24 are now believed to be of cultivated Hyacinthoides hispanica, or its hybrid with Hyacinthoides non-scripta.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Dr Fred Rumsey, Natural History Museum |
Source | No source database. |
Hyacinthus non-scriptus Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 316. 1753 (as non scriptus); Endymion non-scriptus (Linnaeus) Garcke; Scilla non-scripta (Linnaeus) Hoffmannsegg & Link; S. nutans Smith
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242101671 |
Hyacinthoides non-scripta the British bluebell is an ancient woodland indicator species in the British Isles.The British bluebell is most abundant in dominant in old woodlands on light-acid soils but will tolerate a range of soil conditions.Hyacinthoides non-scripta can also be found in
- secondary woodlands
- where these are adjacent to or have replaced older woodlands
- hedgerows
- pastures
- coastal grasslands,
and more rarely
- in heathland
- on cliff ledges in more upland areas.
Hyacinthoides non-scripta is
- well adapted to persisting in an area
- often after the loss of the woodland canopy
- a slow disperser to new areas
- because of its heavy seeds
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Rights holder/Author | Dr Fred Rumsey, Natural History Museum |
Source | No source database. |
Escaped from gardens; 0--1500m.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242101671 |
Distribution
Hyacinthoides non-scripta is widely distributed along the Atlantic fringe of western Europe,
- from the mountains of the Sistema Central in Iberia in the south
- northwards through western France, the British Isles and Ireland
- reaching its northern limit in Scotland
- then more sparsely scattered eastwards to the Netherlands.
Hyacinthoides non-scripta is locally naturalised
- further east in Central Europe
- in North America
- introduced by European settlers
In the British Isles it is essentially lowland but extends up to 685m on Craig-yr-Ysfa in North Wales (Preston, Pearman & Dines, 2002).
Population
The British Isles is often cited as containing the majority of the world’s population of this species, which has helped drive concern over its continued survival here in the face of aggressive hybridisation.In terms of area, or extent of occupancy, the extra-British western European range is broader but the species is sparsely and very unevenly distributed throughout that and never achieves the density of population seen in the British Isles.Although the species can spread locally very efficiently by vegetative means (small bulbils forming around the main bulb), population genetic studies have shown that the major mechanism of reproduction is sexual, by seed, which is abundantly produced in most years.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Dr Fred Rumsey, Natural History Museum |
Source | No source database. |
This species is found in deciduous woodlands, hedgrows, meadows, under bracken in upland areas, and on cliffs; it also occurs as a garden escape (6). The presence of the species in hedgerows and under bracken on pastures may indicate that the land was once covered in woodland (4).
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Copyright Wildscreen 2003-2008 |
Source | http://www.arkive.org/bluebell/hyacinthoides-non-scripta/ |
- Listed as of Least Concern but with our possible international responsibility for this taxon highlighted.
- in the “Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain” (Cheffings et al., 2005)
- protected from collection for commercial trade under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
In urban areas and their environs the continuing genetic purity of the surviving fragmented H. non-scripta populations is unlikely. In the countryside
- Education is necessary to slow the inexorable spread of H. hispanica genes.
- preventing the disposal of garden waste into rural areas adjacent to woodlands, etc. containing bluebell populations
The effect of these precautions will ultimately have in large natural populations of H. non-scripta is still unclear.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Dr Fred Rumsey, Natural History Museum |
Source | No source database. |