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Alpine squill is a 4-8" tall early spring plant, native to Eurasia. Alpine squill has two (rarely three or four) 3-6" long, narrow, curved, fleshy leaves. One to six red-brown, hairless, leafless flower stalks arise from between the basal leaves; each stalk supports 2-10 deep blue, erect flowers less than 1/2" across on individual, hairless pedicels. The basal leaves clasp the flower stalks up to about half their length. Each flower faces upwards (unlike Scilla siberica), has six spreading tepals, six stamens with dark blue anthers, and a single pistil. The stamens are distinctive in that the filaments are flattened along the flower's radial axis and taper distally; from the side they look like isosceles triangles with the anthers on their tips. Alpine squill contains cardiac glycosides; all parts of the plant are highly toxic.

Scilla

Scilla bifolia

alpine squill [Blooms: Mar-Apr]

Siberian squill is another of the early spring ephemerals native to the Caucasus and west Asia that has been wildly successful in northern Illinois and parts of Minnesota, displacing native species. Its leaves are restricted to a basal set of 2-3 leaves about 5" long and 1/4-1/2" wide, linear with a blunt tip, a shiny green surface, and smooth margins. The leaves tend to roll inward along their margins with the curl increasing towards the tip of the leaf. One or more purplish-green, 6" tall flower stalks arise from the center of the ring of basal leaves with single (rarely two or three) blue, nodding flowers on each stalk, suspended from a slender pedicel that arises directly from the unbranched flower stalks. Each flower is about 1" across with six flaring blue (rarely, white) tepals (each typically with a dark blue line down the middle), six white stamens with dark blue anthers, and a single green pistil with an undivided blue style. Siberian squill can be confused with alpine squill (Scilla bifolia), but in alpine squill the flowers face laterally or upwards rather than drooping like Siberian squill, and the flower stalks are distinctly red-brown (rather than brownish green) and branched rather than supporting flowers with a simple pedicel. Despite the common name, Siberian squill is not native to Siberia; it is native to a broad swath of western Europe from Turkey through the Caucasus and southwestern Russia. Sources differ on whether Siberian squill is toxic but note that it is avoided by vertebrate herbivores; proceed with caution.

Scilla

Scilla siberica

Siberian squill [Blooms: Mar-Apr]