Editing Hyacinthoides non-scripta (section)

==Description==
{{Multiple image
|header=Comparison of ''H.&nbsp;non-scripta'' and ''H.&nbsp;hispanica''
|direction=horizontal
|align=left
|width=140
|image1=Hyacinthoides in Narrow Wood, Wadborough - geograph.org.uk - 781186.jpg
|caption1=''H.&nbsp;non-scripta'' has dark flowers in one-sided, nodding racemes, with strongly recurved petals and white pollen.
|image2=Hyacinthoides hispanica pm.jpg
|caption2=''H.&nbsp;hispanica'' has paler flowers produced on all sides of the upright stem, less recurved petals and blue pollen.
}}
''Hyacinthoides non-scripta'' is a [[perennial plant]] that grows from a [[bulb]].<ref name="Stace">{{cite book |author=Clive A. Stace |year=2010 |title=New Flora of the British Isles |edition=3rd |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-70772-5 |chapter=''Hyacinthoides'' Heist. ''ex'' Fabr. (''Endymion'' Dumort.) – bluebells |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newflorabritishi00stac/page/n955 920]–921|author-link=Clive A. Stace }}</ref> It produces 3–6 linear leaves, all growing from the base of the plant, and each {{convert|7|-|16|mm}} wide.<ref name="Poland">{{cite book |author1=John Poland |author2=Eric J. Clement |year=2009 |title=The Vegetative Key to the British Flora |publisher=[[Botanical Society of the British Isles]] |page=140 |isbn=978-0-9560144-0-5}}</ref> An [[inflorescence]] of 5–12 (exceptionally 3–32) flowers is borne on a stem up to {{convert|500|mm|abbr=on}} tall, which droops towards the tip;<ref name=Ortiz2011/> the flowers are arranged in a 1-sided nodding [[raceme]].<ref name="Stace"/> Each flower is {{convert|14|-|20|mm|abbr=on}} long, with two bracts at the base, and the six [[tepal]]s are strongly recurved at their tips.<ref name="Stace"/> The tepals are violet–blue.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Arthur Roy Clapham|A. R. Clapham]], [[Tom Tutin|T. G. Tutin]] & [[E. F. Warburg]] |year=1981 |title=Excursion Flora of the British Isles |edition=3rd |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-23290-6 |chapter=Liliaceae |pages=388–394}}</ref> The three [[stamen]]s in the outer whorl are fused to the [[perianth]] for more than 75% of their length, and bear cream-coloured [[pollen]].<ref name="Stace"/> The flowers are strongly and sweetly scented.<ref name="Stace"/> The seeds are black, and germinate on the soil surface.<ref name="Thomas">{{cite book |author1=Peter Thomas |author2=John R. Packham |year=2007 |title=Ecology of Woodlands and Forests: Description, Dynamics and Diversity |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-83452-0}}</ref>

The bulbs produce contractile roots; when these roots contract, they draw the bulbs down into deeper layers of the soil where there is greater moisture, reaching depths of {{convert|10|-|12|cm|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Thomas"/> This may explain the absence of ''H.&nbsp;non-scripta'' from some thin soils over chalk in [[South East England]], since the bulbs are unable to penetrate into sufficiently deep soils.<ref name="Thomas"/>

''H.&nbsp;non-scripta'' differs from ''[[Hyacinthoides hispanica|H.&nbsp;hispanica]]'', which occurs as an introduced species in Britain and Ireland, in a number of ways. ''H.&nbsp;hispanica'' has paler flowers which are borne in radially symmetrical racemes; their tepals are less recurved, and are only faintly scented.<ref name="Stace"/> The outer stamens are fused with the tepals for less than 75% of their length, and the anthers are the same colour as the tepals.<ref name="Stace"/> These two species are thought to have diverged 8000 years ago.<ref name="Grundmann">{{cite journal |author1=Michael Grundmann |author2=Fred J. Rumsey |author3=Stephen W. Ansell |author4=Stephen J. Russell |author5=Sarah C. Darwin |author6=Johannes C. Vogel |author7=Mark Spencer |author8=Jane Squirrell |author9=Peter M. Hollingsworth |author10=Santiago Ortiz |author11=Harald Schneider |year=2010 |title=Phylogeny and taxonomy of the bluebell genus ''Hyacinthoides'', Asparagaceae &#91;Hyacinthaceae&#93; |journal=[[Taxon (journal)|Taxon]] |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=68–82 |doi=10.1002/tax.591008 }}</ref> The two species [[hybrid (biology)|hybridise]] readily to produce fertile offspring known as [[Hyacinthoides × massartiana|''Hyacinthoides'' × ''massartiana'']]; the hybrids are intermediate between the parental species, forming a spectrum of variation which connects the two.<ref name="Stace"/>