Basking in blue
21st April 2024
Bluebell season again. Hyacinthoides non-scripta opening up in woodland is one of our great wild-flower spectacles. For many it’s an annual pilgrimage to local bluebell woods. In the Chilterns the bluebells flower often as the beech trees come into leaf. Similarly beech ‘hangers’ in the Cotswolds also put on a dramatic electric blue display. Bluebells are indeed woodland plants but many are found on open ground perhaps formerly wooded. Grazing animals keep them in check but on Cam Peak which I visited today cattle are no longer kept and the effect of the extensive drifts of light blue through to dark blue and purple is stunning (Cam Peak lies just east of Cam and Dursley). Bluebells avoid the acid litter of conifer plantations, says Richard Mabey in Flora Britannica. The Chilterns and Cotswolds are both non-acidic based on chalk and limestone (CaCO3) respectively. Mabey also distinguishes the native bluebell from the now widely seen Spanish bluebell (H. hispanica) which is a much stouter plant with more bell-like flowers on all sides of the stem. The pictures below are of the native bluebell.
