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Botanical Name : Scilla nutans (S. M.)
Family: Hyacinthus nonscriptus (LINN.)

Synonyms: Calverkeys. Culverkeys. Auld Man’s Bell. Ring-o’-Bells. Jacinth. Wood Bells. Agraphis nutans, Link.Endymion non-scriptum, Scilla non-scripta)
Other names : Auld Man’s Bell, Bluebell, Calverkeys, Culverkeys, English Bluebell, Jacinth, Ring-o’-Bells, Wilde Hyacint, and Wood Bells
Irish name - Cloigín Gorm
Lily family – Liliaceae
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Asparagales
Genus: Hyacinthoides
Part Used: Bulb, dried and powdered.
Habitat: Abundant in Britain, Western Europe to Spain, eastward to Central France, along the Mediterranean to Italy.

Description:Bluebell is a spring-flowering bulbous perennial plant.   From the midst of very long, narrow leaves, rising from the small bulb, and overtopping them, rises the flower-stem, bearing the pendulous, bell-shaped blossoms, arranged in a long curving line. Each flower has two small bracts at the base of the short flower-stalk. The perianth is bluish-purple and composed of six leaflets.
The Wild Hyacinth is in flower from early in April till the end of May, and being a perennial and spreading rapidly, is found year after year in the same spot, forming a mass of rich colour in the woods where it grows. The long leaves remain above ground until late in the autumn.

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The stems are 10-30 cm long and bend over at the top. The lavender-blue flowers are pendulous, tubular with the petals recurved only at the end. The individual flowers are borne on only side of the flowering stem only. The anthers are yellowish-white or cream and are attached inside the tube more than half-way along the tube. The flowers are pleasantly and usually strongly scented. The leaves, which are all basal, are narrowly linear lanceolate. Variations in colour occur, most usually pinkish or in a white variety, H. non-scripta alba.. Pollination is by insects including bees and the black seeds fall to the ground close to the plant. Seeds may have a long period of survivability and can emerge after several years absence if suitable conditions recur. The seedlings can flower in 2 years from seed; as a result, bluebells can quickly spread in a garden.

Linnaeus first called it Hyacinthus, tradition associating the flower with the Hyacinth of the Ancients, the flower of grief and mourning. Hyacinthus was a charming youth whom both Apollo and Zephyrus loved, but Hyacinthus preferred the Sun-God to the God of the West Wind, who sought to be revenged, and one day when Apollo was playing quoits with the youth, a quoit (blown by Zephyrus out of its proper course) killed Hyacinthus. Apollo, stricken with grief, raised from his blood a purple flower, on which the letters Ai, Ai were traced, so that his cry of woe might for evermore have existence upon earth. As our native variety of Hyacinth had no trace of these mystic letters our older botanists called it Hyacinthus nonscriptus, or ‘not written on.’ A later generic name, Agraphis, is of similar meaning, being a compound of two Greek words, meaning ‘not to mark.’

It is the ‘fair-hair’d hyacinth’ of Ben Jonson, a name alluding to the old myth. We also find it called Jacinth in Elizabethan times. In Walton’s Angler it is mentioned as Culverkeys.

Propagation
Bluebells prefer a moisture-retentive, humus-rich, woodland type soil. The site should be well-drained, cool and shady, but it shouldn’t dry out in summer. It is ideal for naturalising in a wooded corner or old orchard. In the garden it can be planted in a border or amongst herbaceous plants.

Cultivation:
Sow seed early in spring or as soon as ripe in a cold frame. It usually requires stratification. If you have plenty of seed it can be sown in situ, but it is usually more economical to sow it in a frame. If sown thinly, the seedlings can be left in their pots for the first year, though give them regular liquid feeds to make sure that they get sufficient nutrients. Prick out the seedlings about 3 to a pot and grow on for 1 – 2 more years before planting out into their permanent positions when they are dormant.

Constituents: The bulbs contain inulin, but are characterized by the absence of starch (which in many other monoeotyledons is found in company with inulin). Even if fed on cane-sugar, Bluebell bulbs will not form starch. They also contain a very large quantity of mucilage.

Medicinal Action and Uses:
Medicinal uses of the bulb include diuretic and styptic properties. Because the bulbs contain toxic substances, they were a popular source of glue for bookbinding – the toxins discouraged attack by silverfish. The toxicity may be the origin of the superstitious belief that anyone who wanders into a ring of bluebells will fall under fairy enchantment and soon after die. Other tales from a time when forests where forbidding places, people believed that bells rang out to summon fairies to their gatherings, unfortunately any human who heard a bluebell ring would soon die. However, not all the Bluebell’s folklore is quite so gloomy. Some believed that by wearing a wreath made of the flowers, the wearer would be compelled to speak only truth. Others believed that if you could turn one of the flowers inside out without tearing it, you would eventually win the one you love.

Though little used in modern medicine, the bulb has diuretic and styptic properties.

Dried and powdered it has been used as a styptic for leucorrhoea; ‘There is hardly a more powerful remedy,’ wrote Sir John Hill (1716-75), warning at the same time that the dose should not exceed 3 grains. He also informs us that a decoction of the bulb operates by urine.

Tennyson speaks of Bluebell juice being used to cure snake-bite.

The flowers have a slight, starch-like scent, but no medicinal uses have been ascribed to them.

The bulbs are poisonous in the fresh state. The viscid juice so abundantly contained in them and existing in every part of the plant has been used as a substitute for starch, and in the days when stiff ruffs were worn was much in request. From its gummy character, it was also employed as bookbinders’ gum.

Gerard informs us that it was also used for setting feathers upon arrows. De Candolle (1778-1841) suggested that the abundant mucilage might be put to some economic purpose.

Dosage: 3 grains.

Substitutes:  any other bulbous plants related to Scilla (Hyacinthus, Muscari Gagea, etc.) have been used as diuretics, and probably contain related, if not identical substances.

Medicinal uses of scottish bluebell
Anti-Fungal.

The root has been chewed in the treatment of heart and lung problems. An infusion of the roots has been used as eardrops for sore ears. A decoction of the plant has been drunk or used as a wash in the treatment of sore eyes. All these uses have also occurred in Native American contexts. Has also been claimed as anti-depressant.
(The plants constituents Polyacetylenes: [aliphatic tetrahydropyran derivatives] +, iridoids and tannins 0; caffeic acid. Polyacetylenes have been found in many families of higher plants. More recently, linear polyacetylenes have become a major element in the search for bioactive substances from marine sponges. It has been reported that these compounds exhibit potent cytotoxic, antimicrobial, antiviral, RNA-cleaving, sedative, and enzyme-inhibitory activities, as well as brine-shrimp lethality.).

Disclaimer:The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider

Resources:

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/b/bluebe60.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Bluebell

http://www.cvni.org/wildflowernursery/wildflowers/bluebell

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HYACINTH, WILD……>.
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