Our native bluebell: name changes

In 2002 Plantlife surveyed opinions about Britain's favourite wild flower in an attempt to find an appropriate and different wild flower to represent each County. The native Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) was so popular in so many areas it had to be excluded from the list. Again in 2015, Plantlife surveyed thousands of its members to discover the favourite flower for the four nations of the United Kingdom. The bluebell was top of poll in England. Bluebells have been a favourite for a long time and gardeners have coveted their ability to form drifts of scented blue flowers in Springtime but trying to discover how long bluebells have been studied and cultivated is complicated by many name changes to the species over the years. World Flora Online²¹ describes 26 synonyms for the Latin name for Bluebell which have been used over the years. Here are a just a few of them:

Botanical Synonym	Comments
Hyacinthus anglicus	This name was used in Gerard's Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes in 1597 by John Gerard and was applied to both taxa we now call the Native Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) and the Spanish Bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica).
Hyacinthus non-scriptus (L.)	Carl Linnaeus1 (1701 to 1778) coined this name in his 1753 introducing the non-scriptus species name. The non-scriptus name comes from Greek mythology.
Scilla nonscripta Hoffmanns. & Link	Used in Neue Schriften, Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin. Berlin. iv. (1803) 19.
Agraphis nutans Link	From Handbuch zur Erkennung der Nutzbarsten und am Haufigsten Vorkommenden Gewächse. Berlin (1829) Agraphis means the same as non-scriptus (without words or writing) and nutans means nodding.
Endymion non-scriptus (L.) Garke	The genus name for bluebell was transferred to Endymion by Christian August Friedrich Garcke in 1849 in Flora von Nord- und Mittel-Deutschland. This was the name we all used when I started botanising seriously in the 1970s. Endymion in Greek mythology was the handsome son of Zeus.
Scilla festalis Salisb.	Used in Flowers of the Field by Rev Charles Alexander Johns in 1853
Scilla nutans Sm.	Used in Flora of the British Isles by A.R. Clapham, T.G. Tutin & D.M. Moore 1989
Hyacinthoides non-scripta (L.) Chouard ex. Rothm	The current (2021) name for our native Bluebell. First suggested by Pierre Chouard in 1934.

Native bluebells and the link with Greek mythology

Carl Linnaeus first gave the first binomial name Hyacinthus non-scriptus to what we call now our native bluebell. This is because he recognised it as related to the Hyacinth which in turn takes its name from a Greek myth about a beautiful prince called Hyakinthos from a place called Amyklai near Sparta.

Hyakinthos was a follower of the God Appollon who loved Hyakinthos. One day Appollon and Hyakinthos were playing with a discus and Zephyrus the God of the West Wind, who also loved Hyakinthos blew the discus off course in a fit of jealousy. The discus hit Hyakinthos and killed him. At the spot where his blood fell on the earth sprang up a flower with markings on the petals. The marks seemed to spell out the word AIAI which translates as Alas from Ancient Greek. There are variations of this myth but they all involve blood being spilt and a flower growing as a result.

It is not certain what the flower was. Some say it must have been a type of Gladiolus, some say a Larkspur but not really anything like our familiar garden Hyacinth. Nevertheless the Bluebell is related to the Hyacinth so Linnaeus called it a Hyacinth (Hyacinthus). But our bluebell doesn't have the letters AIAI inscribed on the tepals (non-scriptus). After many attempts at re-naming the genus we have arrived at Hyacinthoides non-scripta. The - oides which is originally from Greek, can be incorporated into a Latin binomial for a plant. It means similar to, a bit like, looks like or resembles.

So a rough translation of our current scientific name for Bluebell tells you its a bit like a Hyacinth but without any writing on the petals.

Field Observations in this article

It is fair to say that amongst most practising field botanists, it has long been recognised that Spanish Bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica) has been over-recorded instead of the Hybrid (Hyacinthoides hispanica x Hyacinthoides non- scripta = Hyacinthoides x massartiana). As long ago as 1988 one of our most distinguished UK botanists, Dr. T. Rich² wrote: "The True Spanish species is not often seen" .

However, that is not always how the situation is presented even by well known and respected plant organisations such as the Royal Horticultural Society, The Wildlife Trusts, National Trust or Gardeners World for example. Advice on how to distinguish Spanish from native bluebells tends to be the main thrust of the identification advice. And as if to reinforce the idea that Hyacinthoides hispanica is common in UK and Ireland, the current BSBI Atlas (March 2024) shows it to be quite commonly recorded.

So is Hyacinthoides hispanica commonly found in UK or not? At this point in the article we assume that it could be.

To avoid confusion in this article, the photos of Hyacinthoides hispanica were taken in Andalucia in Spain and the photographs of hybrids and native bluebells in UK. The aim of this article is to present actual original photographs of whole plant, leaves, flower stem and close-ups of the florets and habitat to try to reach a conclusion about the genuine morphological differences between these species.

When the article refers to non-native Bluebells, it means they are most probably hybrid bluebells (Hyacinthoides x massartiana) but could just possibly be Spanish (Hyacinthoides hispanica) . When it refers to native or Spanish bluebells, the article refers to Hyacinthoides non-scripta or Hyacinthoides hispanica definitely.

Note on how to use the photographs: If you have scripts enabled on your computer or mobile device then clicking on the thumbnail (180 x 180 px) photo will cause it to enlarge to 800 x 800px. It will not at first enlarge bigger then the screen on your device though. This limits the usefulness of this feature on some mobile devices and cell phones. On large screens you can enlarge more than one photograph at once and drag them alongside each other for comparison. Click the enlarged photo again to reduce it back to the thumbnail size.

Field Observations of Hyacinthoides non-scripta in Britain and Ireland

Native Bluebell	Observed features
Native Bluebell Warburton Wood, Cheshire 9th May 2010 Previous   Next	Our native bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) is very often found in the company of hundreds if not thousands of others. It is sometimes difficult therefore to get a photograph of a single plant. This one, in a field on the edge of a large bluebell wood, shows the dark blue, tubular flowers, the nodding habit and the one sided inflorescence. The leaves here are fairly narrow but contrary to what you might read in other guides, leaf width alone cannot be relied upon as a distinguishing feature. Some non-native bluebells have leaves almost as narrow than the ones shown here. The leaf width of the native bluebell measured in this study did not vary much (().4cm to 0.6cm, rarely 1.0 to 1.5cm).
Native Bluebell Alvanley verge, Cheshire 7th May 2020 Previous   Next	A close view of the florets making up the inflorescence shows the deep blue/purple, elongated, bell-shaped flowers (tubular) with significant reflexing (curling back) of the tepals. The florets are always fairly crowded together at the top of the pedicel (flower stem). The nodding habit of the native bluebell means that most of the florets are pointing towards the ground making it tricky to see the pollen colour which is usually white/cream and sometimes described as pale yellow.
Native Bluebell Sandstone trail, Cheshire 5th May 2006 Previous   Next	In this plant the inflorescence is has fewer florets but they are still crowded at the top of the scape (flower stem). Just under each individual floret there are two narrow, pointed, purple bracts. Some of the florets here show reflexed (curled back) tepals but not as pronounced as in those photographed above. There will nearly always be some reflexing of the tepals in Hyacinthoides non-scripta. Again the florets point downwards so that the anthers and therefore the pollen colour, cannot be seen from above.
Native Bluebell Deganwy hill, near Llandudno, North Wales 21st May 2018 Previous   Next	In this case, a cold British Spring allowed bluebells to go on flowering much later than usual. This one is on the edge of a large coastal patch of bluebells rather than in a wood. The bluebells will eventually be shaded out by Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum). This close-up has one floret upturned so you can see the white pollen from the dehisced (opened ) anthers. The normal colour of the pollen is white in this species and does not vary. The colour of the flowers here is nearer purple or violet than dark blue but digital cameras sometimes have difficulty in accurately recording shades of blue and purple.
Native Bluebell Small wood, Helsby, Cheshire 11th April 2021 Previous   Next	At the edge of the woodland area the bluebells are more sparsely distributed enabling the photographer to get a shot of the leaves with no overlap from neighbours. This shows the very narrow, almost parallel sided leaves of the native Hyacinthoides non-scripta bluebell. Looking at the widest leaf and the narrowest in this particular bluebell wood, the range of leaf widths was measured to be 1.0 cm at the widest to 0.4 cm at the narrowest with most around 0.5/0.6 cm.

Field Observations of non-native bluebells

There is general agreement that the native bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) can be distinguished morphologically (appearance/shape) from non-native species such as the Spanish Bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica), Spanish Bluebell cultivars and Hybrid Bluebells (Hyacinthoides x massartiana) and hybrid cultivars. There isn't one definitive character which will allow identification of our native bluebell but a combination (see Separating the non-native bluebells from the native Hyacinthoides non-scripta below).

The identification problems arise when you examine a range of non-native bluebells growing in Britain and Ireland seeking to find consistent distinguishing features to aid identification. As stated above, the only Spanish Bluebells photographs shown here are images taken in southern Spain but you can see from the distribution map that Hyacinthoides hispanica is also found in Portugal.

Although Hyacinthoides non-scripta and Hyacinthoides hispanica both occur in Spain and Portugal, Hyacinthoides non-scripta is confined to the north and a relatively small region of central Spain. Hyacinthoides non-scripta is not recorded from the Andalucian countryside so this reduces the chances of hybrids occurring naturally. Hybrids can be occasionally found in the absence of both parents though. Naturally occurring hybrids happen in Spain between the north bands of Hyacinthoides non-scripta and the Hyacinthoides hispanica further south.

Distribution of Hyacinthoides non-scripta and Hyacinthoides hispanica in the Iberian peninsula ⁴

The other non-native Bluebells shown in the following table are from from gardens and various countryside locations in England and north Wales mostly not far from human habitation. All the measurements and photos are from field work not literature sources.

Comparing leaves of non-native Bluebells

General characters of Inflorescence of non-native bluebells

Single floret close-ups

Bluebell habitats

Cultivated Bluebells

An article²⁴ written by Dr John David who is Head of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Horticultural Taxonomy Team is the basis of the next few paragraphs about the history of Bluebell acquisition and cultivation.

Discussions about the Spanish Bluebell might lead someone to believe it is a recent introduction, but it seems likely that it was certainly in cultivation in 1768 when it was described by the chief gardener at Chelsea Physic Garden, Phillip Miller who selected Scilla hispanica as the lectotype of the species.

But even before then, it was mentioned by the herbalist John Parkinson in 1629 in his now famous and much sought after book: Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris⁵. In addition, an illustration in Basilius Besler’s book⁶ Hortus Eystettensis in 1613 shows an upright plant with flowers all round the stem just like the Spanish Bluebell. The Spanish Bluebell seems to have been in cultivation for about 400 years and by 1872 it was recognised by botanist John Gilbert Baker²³ when he described fifty different forms of “Wood Hyacinth”. Wood Hyacinth was the general name he gave to bluebells and Baker showed them to be in a range of forms between our native (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) and the Spanish Bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica).

In spite of the published names in many modern botanical sources, older names for Spanish Bluebell sometimes appear on labels of plants in some nurseries and garden centres. One such name still occasionally found is Scilla campanulata which is an illegal synonym of Scilla hispanica.

In 1934 that Pierre Chouard suggested there could be a hybrid between Hyacinthoides non-scripta and Hyacinthoides hispanica suggesting that most Wood Hyacinths were in fact hybrids but it wasn't until 1996 that the hybrid between Hyacinthoides non-scripta and Hyacinthoides hispanica was given a hybrid name by Daniel Geerinck³.

Bluebells have been available to gardeners for a few centuries now and horticulturalists have been cultivating combinations of the most attractive of these using their usual breeding methods to make them of interest to gardeners.

Queen of the Pinks	White City	Excelsior
Hyacinthoides hispanica 'Queen of the Pinks' Farmer Gracy catalogue 2021 Previous   Next	Hyacinthoides hispanica 'White City' Farmer Gracy catalogue 2021 Previous   Next	Hyacinthoides hispanica 'Excelsior' Farmer Gracy catalogue 2021 Previous   Next
This is sold as a cultivated Spanish Bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica) and it has been selectively cultivated for a striking pink colour and large numbers of closely spaced flowers. In spite of the catalogue name this is possibly a hybrid. This hugely attractive type of cultivar is the probably the basis of many garden bluebells which show plenty of pinks flowered plants of various shades. DNA analysis would perhaps reveal more of the ancestry of such cultivars. Hybrids, native bluebells and pure Spanish bluebells are all fertile so it is entirely possible that all have been used to produce the desired effect.	Again this is sold as a cultivated Spanish Bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica) and has the typical white colour you can usually find among many garden bluebells	To complete the collection of pink, white and blue bluebells this is too is sold as a cultivated Spanish Bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica). This one shows very wide leaves which are more typical of hybrid bluebells (Hyacinthoides x massartiana). These excellent examples of Hyacinthoides sp., cultivars are taken from a 2021 catalogue and there are many others available from nurseries worldwide although the names used may vary.

It is entirely possible that the plants now seen in many gardens known variously as Garden Bluebell, Hybrid Bluebell or Spanish Bluebell could well be the result of decades of cultivation and that these names cannot be, with certainty, ascribed to all the non-native species we now recognise growing in gardens and in the countryside around Britain and Ireland.

Because garden Bluebells are fertile and can back-cross with each other then there will be quite a few generations of garden Bluebells with a continuum of characters associated with parents. The parents may be the Spanish bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica) and the native bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) or cultivars of either parent. In gardens with long established non-native bluebells it is easy to find bluebells with a wide range of leaf, habit, colour and flower characteristics giving rough clues to the original parentage.

Even this is not clear though, for there are reports that some of the non-native bluebells which have been subjected to cytological analysis are actually triploid^13,24. This means that instead of having the usual pairs of chromosomes in the cells (diploid), the chromosomes are present as triplets (triploid).

Such triploid bluebell species could reproduce vegetatively but would very likely be sterile or have very low pollen fertility. It is known from other studies that triploid plant species can show extra vigour and larger flowers. The energy used by the plant in forming seeds is not required in triploid species. The best everyday example is the banana. The fruit we buy in the supermarket comes from a triploid banana plant which is sterile. That's why there are no seeds in the banana fruit and it is propagated vegetatively by dividing the root.  Such usual triploid characteristics of a bluebell would be of great benefit to a nurseryman trying to create large, colourful plants to boost sales to customers.

The motivation for producing "bigger and better" Bluebells is there and there has been enough time for this to have happened some time ago.

Summary of Hyacinthoides characters from Field studies

Character	Native (H. non scripta)	Hybrid (H. x massartiana)	Spanish (H. hispanica)
Leaf width	Always narrow 0.4 cm to 1.0 cm ...1.5cm	Very wide but sometimes narrow and near the range of native bluebells	Quite wide but some narrow. Leaves much longer than H. non-scripta)
Tepal reflexed	Yes	Sometimes, incredibly variable	Sometimes
Tepal Stripe	Sometimes	Often	Rarely
Flower shape	Tubular, campanulate	Mostly campanulate, can be saucer shaped	Starts campanulate, can open flat. when fully open, tepals well separated
Floral colour	Blue/purple very occasionally white, rarely pink	All shades of blue/purple, good proportions of pinks and white	Blue
Flower angle	Points down	Often points down, or at right angles, occasionally even upwards.	At right angles or upwards. Points down in bud and early flower.
Pollen Colour	Always white	White, cream, yellowish, grey, pale green, blue	Always blue
Scape shape	Nearly always nodding	Mostly erect occasionally nodding	Always erect
Floral arrangement	Always one-sided but occasional florets point in different directions.	Mostly all round the pedicel but hybrids with mostly native genes can be one-sided. Often dense flower head	All round the peduncle but few florets round the flower-head.
Fragrance	Sweetly scented. Strong after rain.	Faintly scented but variable	Very faintly scented

Separating the non-native bluebells from the native Hyacinthoides non-scripta

It seems to be generally recognised that we can usually separate our native bluebells from non-native by combinations of morphological characters. These are the main characters which most consistently help to identify a native bluebell:

• 1 the tubular nature of the dark blue/purple/violet flower which is much longer than it is wide
• 2 the one-sided flower head where all the florets are on one side of the scape (long leafless stalk supporting the flowers)
• 3 the nodding nature of the flower head
• 4 the consistently narrow leaf width
• 5 the distinct fragrance, particularly noticeable in large populations on a bright day after rain.

Plants though don’t always tend to show the consistency of character we would wish for them. Examining many bluebells in a population of thousands reveals some with wider leaves than we expect and a few with erect flower heads.  Generally though, most native bluebells will have the above characteristics.
Some guides will refer to other characters such as pollen colour but as should be clear from the photos the white pollen which all native bluebells show can also be found in non-native bluebells.

One character which has been quoted in some guides is anther attachment.  This refers to how the filament (stalk) of the anther is attached to the tepal. The relatively small difference between these measurements and the variability across all species suggest that this is not a useful measure to use for separating the native bluebell from the Spanish bluebell or the hybrid. The errors of measurement for this character are simply too large.

Separating pure Hyacinthoides hispanica from native Hyacinthoides non-scripta

Knowing that there was a debate and some confusion even among experience botanists about the reports and recording of “Spanish Bluebells” in Britain and Ireland, as stated above this article only refers to photographs of plants taken in Spain. Comparing those with the native Hyacinthoides non-scripta the characters of Hyacinthoides hispanica appear to be fairly consistent:

• 1 the flower is conventionally campanulate i.e. it looks bell shaped but can open flat in sunshine. When fully open the tepals are well separated.
• 2 the florets spring from all sides of the peduncle and are not one-sided like Hyacinthoides non-scripta.
• 3 the peduncle and the inflorescence is always erect with florets an right angles or slightly pointing upwards
• 4 the leaves are generally wider and longer than in Hyacinthoides non-scripta.
• 5 little fragrance even from hundreds en masse

The pollen colour is always blue but hybrids with a dominance of Spanish genes show blue pollen too. The widths of leaves are always larger than Hyacinthoides non-scripta but can be surprisingly narrow.

Separating Hybrid bluebells (Hyacinthoides x massartiana) from possible Spanish Bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica).

It seems we can’t really do this reliably.

The hybrid is fertile and back crossing results in many progeny with intermediate characters but a few are very close morphologically to either parent. Occasionally you can find a plant in a swarm of non-native bluebells which looks very like our native Hyacinthoides non-scripta but hybrids with a strong Spanish (Hyacinthoides hispanica) "look" seem to be quite common. Imagine decades of back crossing which has led to a few bluebells with say 90% Spanish genes. It could be very tricky to distinguish these from pure Spanish bluebells but even harder if your only reference point is photographs or diagrams of Spanish bluebells originating in the UK. One of the persistent sources of confusion is that Spanish Bluebells on sale from bulb specialists appear much more like the plants we see in a hybrid bluebell swarm than the pure Spanish plants from Spain. It could well be that all so-called Spanish Bluebells on sale to the public are actually all hybrid cultivars but that could be the subject of another study.

Are there pure Spanish Bluebells living in the wild and in gardens in Britain and Ireland or not?

It was always possible but we struggle to separate them from other non-native bluebells with certainty from morphological features alone, even after years of field work experience. What we needed at this stage was a definitive DNA study and in 2023 Dr Markus Ruhsam⁷ et al. published a paper doing exactly that.

Posing the question: "Is hybridisation with non-native congeneric species a threat to UK native Hyacinthoides non scripta?". The scientists collected 501 bluebell samples from 56 populations in the United Kingdom and the Iberian peninsula. Genetic analysis of the samples demonstrated that the non-native bluebells in the United Kingdom are not Hyacinthoides hispanica, the Spanish Bluebell, but the hybrid between Hyacinthoides hispanica and Hyacinthoides non-scripta (= Hyacinthoides x massartiana). Interestingly, the DNA analysis also showed that Portugal rather than Spain was the country of origin of the first Spanish Bluebells introductions to the UK.

And here is the crucial part helping to answer the question about danger to our beloved native bluebell: only 2% of the samples of the native bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) showed any evidence of introgression. Hybridisation may well be frequent where non-native bluebells have been introduced but in the natural Hyacinthoides non-scripta populations there was no large scale evidence of introgression. The results, Dr Ruhsam says, "do not support concerns of an 'extinction by hybridisation' scenario."

There are other studies showing how resilient our native bluebell is:

It has been assumed that both the pure Spanish Bluebell and the hybrid could easily cross with populations of our native bluebells and begin to contaminate the Hyacinthoides gene pool with non-native genes. Studies⁸ of pollen fertility in native and non-native Bluebells showed that pollen fertility was significantly lower in British non-natives (79%) compared with Hyacinthoides non-scripta (94%) and Hyacinthoides hispanica (84%) which favours our native bluebell. If we now consider the evidence from the 2023 study, where no pure Spanish Bluebells were identified in the non-native bluebell population, the comparison is really between the pollen of the native bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) and the hybrid bluebell (Hyacinthoides massartiana) which has a significantly lower pollen fertility.

Investigating seed production, Dr D. Kohn⁹ et al. found that the assumption of full interfertility between native and non-native bluebells was not supported. In other words they don't cross with each other as easily as previously thought. Native bluebells were more likely to produce seeds than non-natives, and that paternities approximated three native bluebells to one non-native, regardless of the identity of the maternal parent. The results show that hybridisation in natural populations and introgression between natives and non-natives is possible. However, lower reproductive success of non-natives coupled with the massive numerical advantage (100:1)²²of native bluebells over non-nativesrepresents a substantial constraint against the postulated ‘extinction-by-hybridisation’ threat to Hyacinthoides non-scripta in the UK.

But could asexual reproduction be a threat too?

Anyone who has tried to get rid of garden bluebells knows they appear to spread effectively both by seed and by the creation of more bulbs. If there was evidence of incursion in our large native bluebell populations by non-native bluebell asexual reproduction then it should be obvious: the bulbs from the non-native bluebells produce plants which don't look like our native bluebell even if we can't easily determine their exact identity. If a few non-native bluebells established themselves in the proximity of a major native bluebell population, any transfer of non-native genetic material by pollinators¹⁴ through sexual reproduction would show in the DNA studies. But only 2% showed signs of introgression of non-native genes⁷.

The conclusion from this latest 2023 DNA study is that the pure Spanish bluebell, like the Armada, was never successful in invading and conquering Britain.

The hybrid progeny from coupling with the natives have settled here quite well though, particularly in our gardens and urban areas. As they have escaped from our gardens into the countryside, hybrid bluebells have become more and more noticed by the public and a possible threat to our precious bluebells woods has been publicised in newspapers and other mainstream media.

We should never forget that for our mainstream media, shocking news is what sells. "No danger to our bluebells from Spanish or Hybrid Bluebells" is unlikely to make headline even in The Times.

These latest studies have clarified everything now haven't they?

Probably not very quickly. Have a look at the content of some plant and natural history organisations concerning the identification of the native and the Spanish bluebell^{12, 15, 16, 17,18,19,20}. Their understanding of the situation has been the accepted position for decades except perhaps amongst serious field botanists. Not everyone reads scientific research papers which are notorious for using correct, but to the lay person, unfathomable technical terms. Some will possibly question the latest research conclusions and seek further corroboration. That's human nature.

If you've been spreading the word about the danger to our native bluebell from the Spanish Bluebell for years, it isn't easy to change your approach. When you've published papers, dissertations, theses or articles where correct identification of Spanish Bluebells in the UK has been assumed to be possible, it will be hard to change direction and say "there probably are probably no Spanish Bluebells in the wild". It will be just as tricky to say the hybrids pose no threat either, even when the outcomes of properly conducted scientific investigations support such conclusions.

However, a few recently written articles such as "The survival battle of Britain's native bluebells"²² appear to have recognised the latest research and have acknowledged that the Spanish Bluebell is very rare or absent in UK and that the threat to our wild bluebell populations has been over-estimated.

Is there much evidence that our native bluebell populations have been "invaded" in the past on any scale? 

Not really. There have been uncorroborated reports on some social media outlets of encroachment by hybrids in some woodland areas and even SSSIs but it is far from clear that they had significant Hyacinthoides non-scripta populations before that. To be able to say that such invasions have definitely happened, we would need good evidence of an established, significant, native population of pure Hyacinthoides non-scripta changing to a mixed population of native and non-native bluebells over a known length of time.

Should you get rid of your garden bluebells because of the possible threat they pose?

No you probably might struggle to do it anyway according to most experienced gardeners. They will often suggest the best way is to move to a new house rather than do battle with well established non-native bluebells in your garden. Bluebells have contractile roots meaning they pull themselves deeper into the soil each year and they produce smaller bulbs each of which can become a new plant. Because the hybrid is fertile there will be seeds in the soil nearby as well. Should you choose to try to poison your bluebells you will find them quite resistant even to powerful herbicides.

Conclusion

The threat to our native bluebell appears not to be anywhere as serious or evidentially based as we all once feared. We have no need to send for a modern day botanically orientated Sir Walter Raleigh, as the threat from the Spanish Armada appears to have foundered on the unforgiving rocks of modern DNA analysis.