Prospero autumnale(L.) Speta (= Scilla autumnalis L.) Autumn Squill

Prospero autumnale(L.) Speta (= Scilla autumnalis L.) - Autumn Squill

Scientific Description:

Bulb l(−2) × 2(−4) cm, tunics brown, sometimes pinkish, occasionally with 1−3 membranous hyaline cataphylls 1−3 cm. Leaves 3−12, narrowly linear, 2−17 cm × 1−2 mm, fleshy, usually appearing after flowers, usually erect. Scapes l−2(−3), erect, 5−30 cm, sulcate and minutely scabrid below. Raceme 4−25-flowered, dense and pyramidal at first, soon becoming lax; pedicels suberect, 3−10 mm, elongating and becoming ascending and rigid in fruit. Bracts absent. Perianth segments lilac with darker midrib, 3−5 × 1.5−2 mm, spreading. Filaments c. 1 mm broad at base. Ovary obovoid, (3−) 3.5−4 mm. Style 0.5−2 mm. Seeds ellipsoid, 3 × 1.5 mm, black, exarillate.

 

Flowering time: (July−) August−October(−November).

Habitat: Dry, sunny grassy slopes, limestone, macchie, open woods, sometimes in wet places, s.l.−1760 m.

 

Reference:
Mordak EV (1984). Scilla autumnalis L., In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 8: 223.

Public Description:

Prospero autumnalis, known as “autumn squill”, is found in the Mediterranean region from Portugal and Morocco east to Turkey and the Caucasus, and also Great Britain. It is a bulbous perennial plant with small star-shaped lilac flowers and can be reach up to 25 cm. It blooms between August and October and is found in dry and sunny grassy slopes, limestone, macchie, open woods, sometimes in wet places.

 

References:

Anonymous (2016). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospero_autumnale, Accessed date: 24.02.2016.

Yıldırım H (2012). Prospero Salisb., In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 106.