This plant is the almost definitely the hybrid garden escape (Hyacinthoides hispanica x Hyacinthoides non scripta = Hyacinthoides x massartiana) which is worrying many naturalist journalists. It is fertile and reproduces successfully with new bulbs and with seed. The differences between this and the Spanish parent (Hyacinthoides hispanica) aren't great but the flowers remain bell shaped in the hybrid but eventually become saucer shaped in H. hispanica. The tips of the petals curl back slightly in the hybrid. You see this at the roadside or near gardens and it could take over as our dominant bluebell. I hadn't realised it until recently but the pure Spanish parent H. hispanica is actually uncommon in the wild so most of the wide leaved vigorous garden bluebells we see in the wild are probably the hybrid.
In the woodland where the shade is quite deep, the native bluebell still seems to hold its own but a bad news story is the one that sells.
Waste grassland near Pensarn Beach, North Wales 25th April 2005
Latin Index English Index Home Page
Added on 1st June 2005, corrected 19th January 2005