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Scilla forbesii
Also called Glory Of The Snow, Forbes' Squill, Asian Spring Bulb
Forbes' glory-of-the-snow is a small bulbous perennial from western and southern Turkey that flowers in early spring with blue starry blooms, then goes dormant until the next year. It is easy to grow in cool temperate gardens and naturalises readily by seed.
Scilla forbesii, known as Forbes' glory-of-the-snow, is a bulbous perennial plant from west Turkey flowering in early spring. It is considered synonymous with Scilla siehei, known as Siehe's glory-of-the-snow, by some sources, although others distinguish them. It belongs to a group of Scilla species that were formerly put in a separate genus, Chionodoxa, and may now be treated as Scilla sect. Chionodoxa. After flowering, it goes into dormancy until the next spring. It seeds readily to form colonies.
Scilla forbesii is the commonest species grown in gardens, where it is often wrongly called S. luciliae.
Scilla forbesii can be bought as dry bulbs (often under the alternative names Scilla luciliae, Chionodoxa luciliae, Scilla siehei or Chionodoxa siehei) and planted while dormant in late summer or early autumn at a depth of 8–10 cm. It requires light when in growth, but can be grown under deciduous trees or shrubs, as the foliage dies down after flowering. It will flower in early to mid Spring. The common blue form seeds freely in many gardens, creating large colonies.
Scilla forbesii, taken to include S. siehei, is native to western and southern Turkey. Yildirim et al., who distinguish between S. forbesii and S. siehei, give the two slightly different distributions within Turkey. S. forbesii is said to occur only on Babadağ Mountain in Muğla Province, whereas S. siehei is found only on Nif Mountain in İzmir Province.
Scilla sect. Chionodoxa · Star Hyacinth · Alpine squill · Turkish Squill · Pyrenean Squill · Amethyst Meadow Squill · Boissier's Glory Of The Snow · Mishchenko Squill · Dwarf Glory Of The Snow · Portuguese Squill · Lesser Glory Of The Snow · Siberian squill
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Scilla forbesii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
