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Hyacinthoides non-scripta, bluebell
Summary
In spite of being, potentially, as dangerous as the foxglove, this abundant spring flower appears to have caused little harm.
Blog Entries
You can read more about Hyacinthoides non-scripta, bluebell, in
these blog entries;
Maintaining the purity of species
Family
Liliaceae
Meaning of the Name
Hyacinthoides
‘Like Hyacinthus’. Hyacinthus is named for Hyakinthos a youth who
was accidentally killed by Apollo. Where his blood fell, the plant
sprang up.
non-scripta
There are markings on the wild hyacinth, Hyacinthus orientalis
albulus, which look like the Greek for ‘Alas’ and Apollo is said to
have put them their to show his grief over killing Hyakinthos. The
Hyacinthoides is unmarked and, hence, ‘non-scripta’, ‘no writing’.
Common Names and Synonyms
bluebell, wild hyacinth. Also called Endymion non-scriptus and Scilla non-scripta
How Poisonous, How Harmful?
Contains glycosides called scillarens which are similar to the glycosides in foxgloves.
Like the snowdrop, the bulb can be mistaken for onions and eaten. It lowers the pulse rate and causes nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting. Larger doses cause cardiac arrhythmias, hypotension and electrolyte imbalance similar to the effects of digoxin in overdose.
Incidents
No reported incidents in humans. There is one reported case of suspected poisoning of cattle.
Folklore and Facts
Non-scripta, these days, is generally said to mean unmarked but, as it suggests, its literal meaning is ‘no writing’. This results from the Greek myth that Apollo wrote on wild hyacinth, Hyacinthus orientalis albulus, ‘Alas’ to commemorate the death of Hyacinthos. The bluebell has no such markings.
The naming of hyacinths has changed so it is hard to be sure which hyacinth John Gerard means when he says it causes the heads of cattle to swell before killing them. He takes this one example to apply a malign and poisonous nature to all hyacinths.
