''Scilla lochiae'', known as Loch's glory-of-the-snow, is a bulbous

perennial 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 wid ...

from

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

flowering in early spring. After flowering, it goes into dormancy until the next spring. It was named after Lady Loch who collected it. 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'', which may now be treated as ''Scilla'' sect. ''Chionodoxa''. Like all former ''Chionodoxa'' species, 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. ''S. lochiae'' is an endemic of the Toodos Mountains of Cyprus, where it flowers during March and April in moist organic soils in pine forests at higher elevations. Found only in a small area, it is strictly protected under the Berne Convention. It has relatively few flowers in a raceme, each about 2.5 cm in diameter. The flowers are bright blue, without white at the base of the

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, as most other former ''Chionodoxa'' species have, although the stamen bases are white. Photographs taken in the wild show the flowers nodding rather than upright.

Notes and references

Bibliography

* * * {{Taxonbar, from1=Q15504162, from2=Q245941 lochiae Flora of Cyprus Ephemeral plants