Plants 20-30 cm; bulb 1-1.5 mm diam. Leaves 3-6; blade linear to linear-lanceolate, 20-50 cm × 7-15(-25) mm. Racemes 6-12-flowered, 1-sided, apex drooping. Flowers erect in bud, all becoming pendent, fragrant; perianth cylindrical-campanulate; tepals erect proximally, reflexed distally, violet-blue or rarely white or pink, oblong-lanceolate, 1.5-2 cm; stamens unequal, outer inserted near middle of perianth, inner near base; anthers cream; pedicel 4-10 mm, ± equaling perianth. 2n = 16, 24.

Flowering late spring. Escaped from gardens; 0--1500 m; introduced; B.C.; Ind., Ky., N.Y., Ohio, Pa., Va., Wash.; w Europe.

Perennial herb with an annual bulb flowering stem to 30 cm tall

Leaves: three to six, basal, 20 cm - 0.5 m long, 7 mm - 2.5 cm wide, linear to linear lance-shaped.

Inflorescence: an upright, dense cluster (raceme) of six to twelve flowers raised on a single stalk.

Flowers: on stout, 3 - 10 mm long stalks, nodding, blue or rarely white, 1 - 2 cm long, tubular, becoming bell-shaped, with six curving, one-veined tepals, fragrant. Stamens six, unequal. Anthers cream.

Fruit: a rounded, dehiscent capsule.

Bulb: 1 - 1.5 mm thick, egg-shaped, renewed annually.

Similar species: No information at this time.

Flowering: May

Habitat and ecology: Introduced from the Old World. A rare escape from cultivation in old homesites. The Chicago Region record was found naturalized at a long-abandoned homesite in Porter County, Indiana.

Occurence in the Chicago region: non-native

Etymology: Hyacinthoides means "resembles the genus Hyacithus." Non-scripta means "without markings."

Author: The Morton Arboretum

Has an erect raceme of 6-12 nodding, blue to white fls, the perianth at first tubular, soon becoming campanulate. S. siberica Haw. has ca 3 deep blue fls in a short raceme, the perianth rotate. Both spp. have 1-nerved tep (unlike Camassia) and are occasionally found in our range as escapes from cult.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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