Hyacinthoides is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, known as bluebells.

Systematics

Hyacinthoides is classified in the subfamily Scilloideae (now part of the family Asparagaceae, but formerly treated as a separate family, called Hyacinthaceae), alongside genera such as Scilla and Ornithogalum. Hyacinthoides is differentiated from these other genera by the presence of two bracts at the base of each flower, rather than one bract per flower or no bracts in the other genera.

Species

According to the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, the genus contains 11 species and one interspecific hybrid. The majority of species are distributed around the Mediterranean Basin, with only one species, Hyacinthoides non-scripta (the familiar spring flower of bluebell woods in the British Isles and elsewhere) occurring further north in north-western Europe. Hyacinthoides species belong, according to analysis using molecular phylogenetics, to three groups.