WildBristol.uk - Discovering Wildlife in Bristol

Rare and very scattered as a garden escape throughout the UK but locally common along the Thames Valley where it might be native. Habitat includes: gardens, parks, allotments, churchyards, wet meadows, willow scrub, river banks etc. Growing habit: Bulbous Perennial. Flowers: March to May. Height: Up to 50 cm.

Stace 4:

Ssp. aestivum.

Stems with the 2 sharp edges remotely and often inconspicuously denticulate, at least in lower 1/2; flowers (2)3-5(7); spathe mostly 30-50 x 7-11mm; tepals 13-22mm; usually flowers March-May, with leaves; (2n=22). Neophyte-naturalised; wet meadows and willow scrub by rivers; very local in South England North to Oxon (mainly in Thames Valley) and South Ireland, garden escape elsewhere in British Isles but much confused with ssp. pulchellum, sometimes considered native in Thames Valley and South Ireland; Central Europe to Mediterranean.

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