Common Bluebell

A bulbous perennial native to Atlantic areas from northwestern Iberia to the British Isles, with Britain and Ireland estimated to hold between a quarter and a half of the world's common bluebells. It grows three to six narrow leaves from its base and a drooping flowering stem up to 50 centimeters tall, bearing five to twelve tubular, sweetly scented violet-blue flowers with strongly recurved petals and cream-colored pollen. It is closely associated with ancient woodland, where it carpets the ground in spring before the tree canopy closes, and also grows on slightly acidic soils in hedgerows and open coastal meadows in the west of its range.