Bluebells

Hyacinthoides non-scripta

Saphire Queen of the mid-May;

And every leave and every flower

Pearled with the self same shower.

Keats 'Fancy' 1918

Drifts of bluebells in the dappled light under the trees

If you were looking for a quintessentially British flower, perhaps the bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) would be it. Bluebells do occur in other countries but bluebell woods carpeted with the flowers are a rather British thing. Although you don't see magnificent drifts of bluebells in Leazes Park there are enough of them to light up a walk and make it worth taking time to stoop down and examine the flowers and provided COVID-19 hasn't taken away your sense of smell have a good old sniff.

Taxonomy

Bluebells belong to the Liliaceae or Lily family which are monocotyledons (abbreviated to monocots). Monocots, when they emerge from the seed, have a single cotyledon or embryonic leaf, as opposed to dicotyledons (dicots) that have two.  Mature monocots have flower parts in threes, the leaves have parallel veins and a more limited root system than dicotyledons (dicots).
The distinction between monocots and dicots is an important one in classifying plants. Monocots are a true monophyletic group in that they have a single common ancestor not shared by other groups. The situation with dicots is a little more complicated and will be discussed in a future blog post.
Of course, none of this really matters if you just want to enjoy bluebells in the park.

Native bluebells

Bluebells grow from underground bulbs and the leaves that arise from the base of the plant are lanceolate in shape.  As you would expect for a 'monocot' the leaf venation is parallel. In the case of native bluebells, the inflorescence is a one-sided raceme. Racemose vs cymose growth will be discussed more in a future blog but for the moment in a raceme new flowers are added as the stem grow upwards so that the oldest flowers are found at the bottom and the youngest at the top. This you can clearly see in the pictures below.
Individual bluebell flowers are roughly parallel-sided. The six tepals are not obvious because they are fused but at the opening of each flower six recurved teeth can be seen. The internal structure of the flowers is difficult to see because they hang down or in botanical parlance are dependent but if you gently turn one upwards to view the interior, six stamens and a superior ovary are visible. The filaments arise from the perianth segments (the site of origin along the tepals is important) and the anthers are creamy white or yellow.

The native bluebell vs Spanish bluebell problem

Most of the bluebells you see in the park are not native bluebells but hybrids between the introduced  Spanish Bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica) and native Bluebells. In general Spanish bluebells are over-recorded and most of the bluebells that are so described are in fact the hybrid form (H. x massartiana).  When I walk through the park I like to think of bluebells as being on a continuum between native and Spanish forms rather than rigidly shoehorning them into one of three categories. It can be a nice mental game on walks in the park is to position the bluebells you find along that line between native and Spanish; it certainly makes you look more carefully which is never a bad thing.
It is worth dwelling on the features of the three forms and as a rule of thumb, any bluebell with even one feature of the Spanish bluebells should be seen as a hybrid.
A good place to start if you want to understand the difference between the two forms is this delightful YouTube video and this webpage by Lizzie Harper. The differences are also summarised in the table below.

1. Roughly parallel-sided corolla tubes - somewhere on the
native bluebell end of the spectrum.

2. Cream coloured anthers visible at the entrance to the corolla tube.

3. One tepal segment reflected to reveal the interior of the flower. Superior ovary,
cream coloured anthers, filament 'takes off' from tepal beyond 1/2 way mark -
suggests of native end of the spectrum.

4. Bell-shaped flowers and blue anther suggests the Spanish end of the spectrum.

5. Flower with reflected tepal segment. Filaments take origin less than 1/2 way up from the
receptacle, together bluish anther suggests Spanish end of the spectrum.

Where to find bluebells in Leazes Park

The densest drifts of flowers are to be found in the locations shown by blue arrows on the map below. They are usually to be found in areas shaded by overhanging trees.