Last spring I noticed we had clumps of bluebells under the trees but when I got a closer look they didn’t seem quite right. The bluebells that I remember as a child in Swithland Woods were slender and stemmed with a curve at the top from which the bells hung down The tiny bells, whose edges curled back on themselves, had a sweet and delicate scent and spread in the dappled shade of the woods like a violet blue carpet.
They are a woodland plant of the Genus Asparagaceae that also includes the hyacinths; in fact one of the common names of bluebells is the wood hyacinth. Their species goes by the name Hyacinoides non-scripta.
The plants under the trees turned out to be their Spanish cousins Hyacintoides hispanica.
These are much stronger than our native bluebells and they are taller, the leaves wider and bigger, the flower stems are upright and the bell-like flowers grow all around the stem. What’s more the flowers just flare at the ends – they don’t curl back. These plants will grow in full sun as well as shade and on most well-drained soil types. The English bluebell prefers an acid soil. All in all they are quite different when seen side by side, and that’s another problem - the Spanish and English bluebells cross easily, so even one bell in the wrong place means it’s a cross and not our native plant but a hybrid.
Having said all that, on their own, the Spanish variety is quite pretty, especially when the pink and white plants are nearby and you can pick different colours for a lovely posy, BUT what you’re not allowed to do is to pick our native bluebells, or to dig up the bulbs, as they are legally a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
The English bluebells are native to Britain, the Spanish variety were first recorded here in 1909 so I imagine it’s another invasive species brought back by plant hunters at that time. There are plants known as the Bluebells of Scotland but these are actually harebells, belonging to the Campanula family, and quite different.
English bluebells are the flowers of St George and said to flower on his saint’s day April 23rd. Bluebell sap was used in bookbinding, as it can repel insects, and was also used to glue the feathers onto the shafts of arrows. All parts of the plants are toxic and can give you a rash if handled. Legend has it that wearing a garland of the flowers compels you to be truthful - maybe from the itching of the sap? Bluebell woods are said to be enchanted by the fairies and, in the language of flowers, bluebells mean constancy, humility and gratitude.
If you want to see bluebells locally this spring then you can not only go to Swithland Woods and the Outwoods but also Burleigh Woodland Nature Reserve which is the bluebell wood illustrating this article. The picture was taken by Keith Linington, a local artist, and it is how I first learned of these woods. It’s a small area by comparison with the others, only about 22 acres, yet it was mentioned as far back as the 1520s, I imagine it was once part of Charnwood Forest that covered such a large area at that time.
A walk in the woods is always lovely and especially so on a sunny day in dappled shade when bluebells carpet the ground and their sweet scent is in the air. It’s quite magical!
Maggie J