BOISSIER'S GLORY-OF-THE-SNOW

Scilla luciliae

Asparagus Family [Asparagaceae]

month8feb month8mar month8march month8apr month8april

status
statusZneophyte
flower
flower8bicolour
flower
flower8blue
flower
flower8white
inner
inner8cream
morph
morph8actino
petals
petalsZ6
stem
stem8round
toxicity
toxicityZmedium
sex
sexZbisexual

6th April 2018, a farm, near Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
They are all spaced out man! Mostly single flowers atop a single stem.


6th April 2018, a farm, near Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
The flowers have paler white sections of the blue flowers unlike those of Lesser Glory-of-the-Snow which are uniformly blue all over.


6th April 2018, a farm, near Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
Unlike Lesser Glory-of-the-Snow which have between 6 and 16 flowers per stem, these have only 1 or 2 flowers on the stem and no more.


6th April 2018, a farm, near Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
Most have just one flower per stem.


6th April 2018, a farm, near Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
Boissiers Glory-of-the-Snow can have just one or two flowers per stem, with most having but one.


29th March 2018, a garden, Formby, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
Differs from Glory-of-the-Snow in that it has only one (or two) flowers per stem.


29th March 2018, a garden, Formby, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
Most stems have but one flower on them.


29th March 2018, a garden, Formby, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
Pale blue petals/tepals. They are 12 to 20mm across and emerge from a perianth tube 2.5 - 4mm long.


29th March 2018, a garden, Formby, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
The Scilla Genus has 6 white filaments and 6 yellow anthers. But this specimen is only showing 4 anthers.


29th March 2018, a garden, Formby, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
The stamens emerge, not from the base at the same place as the tepals, as do the Squills, but from the top of the corolla. Here 6 are indeed visible.


6th April 2018, a farm, near Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
There should be 6 anthers protruding from the corolla, your Author sees but 4. Are any hiding?


28th March 2019, walled gardens, Southport, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
Here's your six anthers, you had them all the time.


29th March 2018, a garden, Formby, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
The leaves of Squills and the Glory-of-the-Snows are all very similar in form: canoe shaped with abruptly tapering tip formed from the 'welding' of the two edges into a blunt pinkish tip. The leaves gradually widen from the ground before abruptly narrowing at the tip. Like all Monocotyledons, the leaves have parallel veins.


29th March 2018, a garden, Formby, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
The canoe-shaped blunt fused tips of the leaves.



A 'DOUBLE-FLOWERED' MUTATION

 Mutations Menu
29th March 2018, a garden, Formby, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
Here, instead of three outer tepals and three inner petals, there are four of each, forming an 8-pointed star. OK, so eight petaloids in total rather than six is not exactly a 'doubling'...


29th March 2018, a garden, Formby, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
There might also be two ovaries and two sets of stamens in this mutated flower, for the central part is an elongated rectangle sporting what look like two sets of anthers. If only your Author had noticed this abnormal flower when he was photographing the plant; for he would have endeavoured to take closer photos of the central portion.


Not to be semantically confused with : Snow-in-Summer (Cerastium tomentosum) [a plant with similar name]

Frequently mis-named as: Glory-of-the-Snow (Scilla forbesii) but that has bright-blue 'petals' which merge into white at the inner and usually has between 4 and 12 flowers per stem and has shorter 'petals' only 10-15mm (as opposed to 12-20mm for Boissier's Glory-of-the-snow).

Easily mistaken for : Lesser Glory-of-the-Snow (Scilla sardensis) but the flowers are wholly bright-blue and with slightly more flowers, 6-16 as opposed to the 4-12 for Glory-of-the-Snow (Scilla forbesii))

There are several other similar plants in both Scilla proper and in the former Chionodoxa genera that resemble Glory-of-the-Snow to various degrees. The distinction between Glory-of-the-Snows and Squills is that Glory-of-the-Snows have the sexual organs within a short, white proximal tube or corolla in the centre of the flower which protrudes. The filaments converge and the anthers within it barely protrude much. Scillas, on the other hand, have no such central corolla and the filaments splay out.

No relation to : Chilean Glory-flower (Eccremocarpus scaber), Common Morning-glory (Ipomoea purpurea), Crimson-Glory-Vine (Vitis coignetiae), Summer Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum), Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) or Snowdon Lily (Gagea serotina) [plants with similar names belonging to differing families].

Glory-of-the-Snow is the most common of a series of differing Glory-of-the-Snows which are all introduced and naturalised plants grown in parks and gardens and grassy verges, from where it can spread or escape as garden throw-outs.


  Scilla luciliae  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Asparagaceae  

Distribution
 family8Asparagus family8Asparagaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8Scilla
Scilla
(Glory-of-the-Snows)

BOISSIER'S GLORY-OF-THE-SNOW

Scilla luciliae

Asparagus Family [Asparagaceae]