Scilla L.
Clump-forming perennials. Bulb tunicate. Leaves all basal, variable liner to ± ovate. Flowers blue, rose or white, in few- to many-flowered terminal erect racemes; ebracteate, or with 1 bract, or with bract and bracteole; segments free or ± connate at base, spreading or ± campanulate, midnerve prominent or obscure. Capsule globose, loculicidal. Seeds Sub-globose, black. spp. c. 80, of temperate Eurasia, tropical and S. Africa. Adventive spp. 2.
Key
About 4 spp. of Scilla, including S. non-scripta, the bluebell, have been placed in separate genus Hyacinthoides Fabr. (Endymion Dumort.). It differs from Scilla sens strict. in having the bulb totally renewed each year (instead of persisting for several years) and formed of tubular scales, and in the flowers having a bract and bracteole (instead of 1 bract, or 0).
