''Scilla lochiae'', known as Loch's glory-of-the-snow, is a

bulb In botany, a bulb is a short underground stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...

ous

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

from

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

flowering in early spring. After flowering, it goes into

dormancy Dormancy is a period in an organism's Biological life cycle, life cycle when growth, development, and (in animals) physical activity are temporarily stopped. This minimizes metabolism, metabolic activity and therefore helps an organism to conserv ...

until the next spring. It was named after Lady Loch who collected it. It belongs to a group of ''

Scilla ''Scilla'' () is a genus of about 30 to 80 species of bulb-forming perennial plant, perennial herbaceous plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. Sometimes called the squills in English, they are native to woodlands, subalpine ...

'' species that were formerly put in a separate genus, ''Chionodoxa'', which may now be treated as ''Scilla'' sect. ''Chionodoxa''. Like all former ''Chionodoxa'' species, the bases of the

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s are flattened and closely clustered in the middle of the flower. In other species of ''Scilla'', the stamens are not flattened or clustered together. ''S. lochiae'' is an endemic of the Troodos Mountains of Cyprus, where it flowers during March and April in moist organic soils in pine forests at higher elevations. Found only in a small area, it is strictly protected under the Berne Convention. It has relatively few flowers in a

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

, each about 2.5 cm in diameter. The flowers are bright blue, without white at the base of the

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s, as most other former ''Chionodoxa'' species have, although the stamen bases are white. Photographs taken in the wild show the flowers nodding rather than upright.

Notes and references

Bibliography

* * * {{Taxonbar, from1=Q15504162, from2=Q245941 lochiae Endemic flora of Cyprus Ephemeral plants

See also

Notes and references

Bibliography