''Scilla forbesii'', known as Forbes' glory-of-the-snow, is a bulbous

perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

from west

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

flowering in early spring. It is considered synonymous with ''Scilla siehei'', known as Siehe's glory-of-the-snow, by some sources, although others distinguish them. It belongs to a group of ''

Scilla ''Scilla'' () is a genus of about 30 to 80 species of bulb-forming perennial herbaceous plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. Sometimes called the squills in English, they are native to woodlands, subalpine meadows, and sea ...

'' species that were formerly put in a separate genus, ''Chionodoxa'', and may now be treated as ''Scilla'' sect. ''Chionodoxa''. After flowering, it goes into dormancy until the next spring. It seeds readily to form colonies.

Description

Like all members of the former genus ''Chionodoxa'', the bases of the stamens are flattened and closely clustered in the middle of the flower. In other species of ''Scilla'', the stamens are not flattened or clustered together. Each bulb produces two leaves, up to 12 cm long and 2 cm wide, and at most one flowering stem, up to 10.5 cm long. The flowers are produced in a broadly pyramidal raceme, with up to 12 flowers per stem. The lower ones face outwards, the upper ones face upward. Each flower is up to 3 cm across, with individual

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s 1.3 cm long. The base of each tepal is white (as are the stamen filaments), producing a white 'eye'. The outer part of the tepals is deep blue to violet-blue. For those who differentiate ''S. siehei'' from ''S. forbesii'', ''S. forbesii'' differs by having fewer, smaller upward-facing flowers, which are a deep blue, rather than violet-blue. File:Scilla forbesii 1.jpg File:Scilla forbesii - 52024312748.jpg File:Scilla forbesii - 52024990955.jpg

Distribution

''Scilla forbesii'', taken to include ''S. siehei'', is native to western and southern

. Yildirim et al., who distinguish between ''S. forbesii'' and ''S. siehei'', give the two slightly different distributions within Turkey. ''S. forbesii'' is said to occur only on Babadağ Mountain in

Muğla Province Muğla Province ( tr, , ) is a province of Turkey, at the country's south-western corner, on the Aegean Sea. Its seat is Muğla, about inland, while some of Turkey's largest holiday resorts, such as Bodrum, Ölüdeniz, Marmaris and Fethiye, ...

, whereas ''S. siehei'' is found only on Nif Mountain in

İzmir Province İzmir Province ( tr, İzmir ili) is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey in western Anatolia, situated along the Aegean coast. Its capital is the city of İzmir, which is in itself composed of the province's central 11 distri ...

Cultivation

''Scilla forbesii'' is the commonest species grown in gardens, where it is often wrongly called '' S. luciliae''. ''Scilla forbesii'' can be bought as dry bulbs (often under the alternative names ''Scilla luciliae'', ''Chionodoxa luciliae'', ''Scilla siehei'' or ''Chionodoxa siehei'') and planted while dormant in late summer or early autumn at a depth of 8–10 cm. It requires light when in growth, but can be grown under

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

trees or shrubs, as the foliage dies down after flowering. It will flower in early to mid Spring. The common blue form seeds freely in many gardens, creating large colonies. ''Scilla siehei'', then regarded as a separate species, was awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit in 1993, which was reconfirmed in 2005.< The

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

''alba'' has white flowers, and the

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

'Pink Giant' has pink flowers with white centres. File:ChionodoxaSiehei Garden.jpg, Self-sown carpet under a deciduous shrub, flowering in early April in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

, England File:Chionodoxa 'Pink Giant' Y01.jpg, 'Pink Giant'

Notes and references

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Taxonbar, from1=Q15504060, from2=Q5101438 forbesii Ephemeral plants Taxa named by John Gilbert Baker Taxa named by Franz Speta