''Scilla bifolia'', the alpine squill or two-leaf squill, is a

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

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 ...

growing from an underground

bulb In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...

,Pignatti S. - Flora d'Italia - Edagricole – 1982 Vol. III, pg. 365 belonging to the genus ''

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 ...

'' of the family

Asparagaceae Asparagaceae, known as the asparagus family, is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots. The family name is based on the edible garden asparagus, ''Asparagus officinalis''. Those who live in the temperate c ...

. The Latin

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''bifolia'' means "twin leaved".

Description

''Scilla bifolia'' grows from a bulb across. There are two or rarely three lance-shaped, curved, fleshy and shiny leaves and the bases of the leaves clasp up to about the half of the stem ( amplexicaul). The flowering stems are erect and unbranched, high. The

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

bears 6-10 flowers, each across. The flowers of ''Scilla bifolia'' are upward-facing, unlike the nodding flowers of ''

Scilla siberica ''Scilla siberica'', the Siberian squill or wood squill, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to southwestern Russia, the Caucasus, and Turkey. Despite its name, it is not native to Siberia. Description Growing to ...

'' (Siberian squill). They bloom from early to late spring. The six

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 are deep violet-blue, more rarely white, pink, or purple. The fruit is a capsule across. ''S. bifolia'' has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

Scilla bifolia blanche, Isère (Matthieu Gauvain)

Taxonomy

Subspecies

*''Scilla bifolia'' subsp. ''bifolia'' *''Scilla bifolia'' subsp. ''buekkensis'' (Speta) Soó *''Scilla bifolia'' subsp. ''rara'' Trávníček *''Scilla bifolia'' subsp. ''spetana'' (Kereszty) Trávníček ;Cultivars The

cultivated variety 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, ...

'Rosea' has pale pink or white flowers.

Synonyms

Synonyms of ''Scilla bifolia'' include:

Distribution

''Scilla bifolia'' is native to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and western

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

south through

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

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. The plant is found in shady places, woods of beech or deciduous trees, and mountain grasslands. It grows at an altitude of above sea level.

Gallery

File:Scilla bifolia004.jpg

References

* T.G. Tutin, V.H. Heywood et alii, Flora Europaea, Cambridge University Press, 1976

External links

RHS Plant SelectorIPNI ListingKew Plant List
{{Taxonbar, from=Q159275 bifolia Alpine flora Ephemeral plants Flora of Europe Flora of Western Asia Flora of the Alps Flora of Russia Flora of Turkey Flora of Syria Garden plants of Europe Garden plants of Asia Flora of Ukraine Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus