White amongst the Blue
by Spikey Mouse Photography
Title
White amongst the Blue
Artist
Spikey Mouse Photography
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Occasionally you can find a 'white' Bluebell in the woods, this is caused by a genetic mutation.
• In folklore, bluebells are also known as ‘fairy flowers’. It was believed that fairies used bluebells to trap passersby particularly small children!
Other folklore tales would have us believe that by wearing a wreath made of bluebell flowers, the wearer would be compelled to speak only the truth. Or that if you could turn one of the flowers inside out without tearing it, you would eventually win the one you love.
used in alchemy and is being researched by modern day scientists for medical use.
25-49% of the world’s population of bluebells are found in the UK.
Bluebells can also be white. These rare individuals lack the pigment that gives bluebells their distinctive colour.
71% of native bluebells are found in broadleaved woodland or scrub.
The biggest threats to bluebells are habitat loss and uprooting of the bulbs for gardens.
The bulbs produce an extremely sticky substance which as once used to stick the pages in books and the feathers on arrows.
The bluebell's scientific name (Hyacinthoides Non-scripta) comes from a Greek myth. When the Prince Hyacinthus died, the God Apollo's tears spelled the word 'alas' on the petals of the hyacinth flower that sprang up from his blood. Non-scripta means unlettered and tells readers that the bluebell is a different species to the similar looking hyacinth.
It takes at least five years for a seed to grow into a bulb.
Bluebells are an important early food flower for bees, hoverflies and butterflies which feed on nectar.
Tennyson speaks of bluebell juice being used to cure snake-bite. The romantic poets of the 19th century, such as Keats and Tennyson, believed that the bluebell symbolised solitude and regret.
http://www.wildlifebcn.org/events/bluebell-watch/bluebell-facts
Uploaded
April 23rd, 2014
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