Hyacinthoides hispanica Alba

The Hyacinthoides hispanica Alba is the pure white flowering form of this botanical species commonly known as the Spanish Bluebell or Spanish Squill. The latter is often confused with the Common Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta), native to our woodlands. It is a perennial bulb that offers a bright spring flowering, with trailing bell-shaped flowers of pure white emerging from a clump of large, ribbon-like leaves in a fresh and shiny green. Easy to cultivate in partial shade, very hardy and tolerant, it will easily naturalize in ordinary soil that is not too dry.

The Endymion hispanicus Alba, another accepted name for the white Spanish Bluebell, is a bulbous plant in the Asparagaceae family (subfamily Hyacinthaceae), native to southwestern Europe and North Africa. Its natural habitat includes forest edges, fallow land, and leafy woodlands (beech, oak, and chestnut), always in partial shade and in soils that remain somewhat moist. It is a prolific species, widely naturalized in France, where it competes and readily hybridizes with our Common Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta), which thrives in the same environments. In some regions, it tends to supplant it.

Anchored on a tall and narrow bulb, deeply buried in the soil, the white Spanish Bluebell multiplies through numerous stolons, eventually forming dense clumps. Its lanceolate leaves, 20 to 50 cm (8 to 20in) long and 3 to 4 cm (1 to 2in) wide at the base, are wider than those of the Common Bluebell. The flower stalks emerge from late April to June depending on the climate. They rise to a height of 30-40 cm (12-16in) and bear clusters of 4 to 16 pure white flowers, bell-shaped and slightly flared, with little or no curling at the tips. The flowers are distributed all around the stem, unlike those of the Common Bluebell, which are all positioned on the same side of the stem. The flowering gives way to globose fruits, while the leaves wilt on the ground. The seeds are released when all aerial parts have dried up. Naturalizing both through its trailing rhizomes and spontaneous seedlings, the Spanish Bluebell is capable of covering the ground of an entire wood.

The Hyacinthoides hispanica Alba offers the wonderful spectacle of its candid flowering, planted en masse in the wilder areas of the garden, where it can spread freely. It will be perfect for edging a shaded pathway or embellishing the ground under a stand of deciduous bushes. It will accompany the blue flowering of the wild form, enhance the blossoms of flowering apple and cherry trees, creating a magnificent spectacle in spring at little cost. It can also be associated with euphorbias as well as sturdy bulbs like late single tulips (white, pink, mauve) and botanical daffodils. Its flowers are also very beautiful in wildflower bouquets.