Taxonomy

The familiar Bluebell, Hyacinthoides non-scripta (L.) Chouard ex Rothm., has a chequered history, having been Endymion non-scriptus (L.) Garke to many British botanists until recently, and before that Scilla non-scripta (L.) Hoffmans. & Link and even Scilla nutans Sm. (Clapham, Tutin & Moore 1989).

There is more confusion, however, as the native Bluebell in Britain is now joined by a garden escape known as Hyacinthoides hispanica (Mill.) Rothm. and, more commonly, the hybrid between the two, which is correctly called Hyacinthoides x massartiana Geerinck (Stace 1997 & BSBI 2007) (syn: H. x variabilis P.D. Sell (Sell & Murrell 1996).

There are unresolved questions about the taxonomic status of these taxa, however: whether the ‘Spanish’ Bluebell is the same as the bluebells in Spain and whether it is merely a subspecies of the common Bluebell, as the two apparently hybridise freely (Taylor, in Preston, Pearman & Dines 2002, p. 817).

Identification

There are photographs of all three taxa on this page. For detailed distinctions between them, the Plant Crib (Rich & Jermy 1998) has a useful table of differences.

Distribution

Hyacinthoides non-scripta is common throughout Britain. It is absent from some of the most northerly islands, high mountains in Scotland, and some peatlands in East Anglia (Preston, Pearman & Dines 2002).

H. hispanica and the hybrid are now almost as widely distributed as the native plant, being widely planted in gardens and near habitation.

Both H. hispanica and H. non-scripta are considered to be endemic to western Europe; the former being the rarer and confined, in its native range, to the western part of the Iberian peninsula (Tutin et al. 1980).

Ecology

H. non-scripta is typically a woodland plant, occurring in calcareous and mildly acid woodlands of all types except the very wettest (Rodwell 1991a). It is sometimes overwhelmingly abundant in the ground flora in the spring, although it dies down by mid-summer and even dead fruiting spikes can be difficult to find towards the end of the season. The most characteristic communities for it are W8 Fraxinus excelsior and W10 Quercus robur woodlands, which are the climax communities over much of lowland Britain.

It is often found in grassland, presumably long after woodland is cleared, and under bracken, most typically in U20 Pteridium aquilinum-Galium saxatile grassland (Rodwell 1992, Taylor, ibid.) and in coastal grassland in the MC12 Festuca rubra - Hyacinthoides non-scripta community (Rodwell 2000). Rodwell (1991b) does not list it as a component of any heathland community.

The ecology of H. hispanica and H. x massartiana is not well studied. They are rarely seen far from habitation or where garden soil has been tipped on roadsides, and although patches increase in size, they do not appear to spread much from their original planting site (personal observation). This raises questions about the fertility and dispersal of the hybrid. Their ability to outcompete native bluebells is often quoted but has yet to be tested empirically.

Status

This is perhaps the most topical issue surrounding the three bluebell taxa. All are endemic to Europe, and therefore of considerable conservation importance. But where they do occur, they are not rare and there is no evidence of a decline.

In Britain it is illegal, under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, to sell plants of H. non-scripta; and it is illegal to dig up any plant in the wild without the permission of the landowner.

Some conservation organisations suggest that the Spanish Bluebell is invading and threatening the native species. There has been little attempt to quantify this, and there is currently no scientific reason to be concerned for the survival of either species. Recently, some conservation bodies have allowed the trade in native bluebells to resume under licence (see, for example, a recent article in The Guardian).

Further work

Scientists at the Natural History Museum have been studying hybridization in bluebells for the last three years and are planning to publish their results in 2008 or early 2009. Visit their web site for updates, and for details of how to contribute.

Anyone recording in the countryside might like to note how much the garden escapes spread into wild woodlands, or whether they remain on the edges where they have presumably been planted or dumped.

> next species

Visit the Maps Scheme maps:

> Hyacinthoides non-scripta

> H. x massartiana

> H. hispanica

References

BSBI. 2007. BSBI Taxonomic Database (Leicester). Botanical Society of the British Isles, University of Leicester.

Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G., & Moore, D.M. 1989. Flora of the British Isles, 3rd edition. Cambridge University Press.

Preston, C.D., Pearman, D.A. & Dines, T.D. 2002. New Atlas of the British & Irish Flora. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Rich, T.C.G. & Jermy, A.C. 1998. Plant Crib 1998. Botanical Society of the British Isles, London.

Rodwell J.S. 1991a. British Plant Communities Volume 1 - Woodlands and Scrub. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Rodwell J.S. 1991b. British Plant Communities Volume 2 - Mires and Heaths. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Rodwell J.S. 1992. British Plant Communities Volume 3 - Grasslands and montane communities. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Rodwell J.S. 2000. British Plant Communities Volume 5 – Maritime communities and vegetation of open habitats. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Sell, P. & Murrell, G. 2006. Flora of Great Britain & Ireland, vol 4: Campanulaceae – Asteraceae. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Stace, C.A. 1997. New Flora of the British Isles, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Tutin, T.G., Heywood, V.H., Burges, N.A., Moore, D.M., Valentine, D.H., Walters, S.M. & Webb, D.A. 1980. Flora Europaea vol. 5. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Acknowledgements

Photo of H. non-scripta by Jim McIntosh