bluebell

bluebell, common name for several plants belonging to completely different classes, particularly the bellflower and the Virginia cowslip, or Virginia bluebell, of the family Boraginaceae (borage family) and the wood hyacinth, a squill of the family Liliaceae (lily family). Bluebells of the former family are classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Lamiales, while those of the latter are in the same division but in the class Liliatae, order Liliopsida.

---

bluebell

Wild hyacinth (Endymion nonscriptus)

(credit: M.T. Tanton—The National Audubon Society Collection/Photo Researchers)

Any plant of the genus Endymion, in the lily family, native to Eurasia. Bluebell, or wild hyacinth (E. nonscriptus), and Spanish bluebell (E. hispanicus), bearing clusters of bell-shaped blue flowers, are cultivated as garden ornamentals; some authorities place them in the related genus Scilla of the same family. Many other plants are commonly known as bluebells, including species of the genera Campanula, Eustoma, Polemonium, and Clematis. In the U.S. the name bluebell is usually reserved for Mertensia virginica.

---

bluebell

symbol of loyalty. [Plant Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 172]

See : Loyalty