Easily mistaken for : Spring Squill (Scilla verna) but that has bracts (which are 5-15mm long) beneath the flowers, has a shorter flower spike and at up to 15cm high is shorter than the 25cm of Autumn Squill, the tepals, at 5-8mm, are longer than the 3-6mm of Autumn Squill. Both species grow in short grassland near the sea, but Spring Squill is much more ubiquitous and gets much further North too all the way up to the Shetland Islands (still near the coast though) than Autumn Squill.

Slight resemblance to : Glory-of-the-Snow but that has petals/sepals which are white in the centre of the flower and anthers which grow from higher up than from where the sepals grow.

A fairly rare [RR] plant which is native and grows in short grassland usually near the sea. It is found in the deep south of England such as in the Channel Islands, South West of England to the South East, south Essex and Surrey.

Once thought to be single species it has recently been found to be a part of a cryptic species complex exhibiting a variety of cytotypes which are visually indistinguishable from one another. Cytotypes may differ in the structure of the chromosomes, or in the differing number of chromosomes (ploidy). Or they might differ by their chloroplast DNA or chloroplast cytotype. By whichever means they differ, it has no effect on their visible characteristics. But it may well have an effect on their secondary metabolites (the chemicals each synthesises), and thus, possibly their smell, but obviously has no effect on their colour otherwise you would be able to see the difference...