Blue aphyllanthes
Aphyllanthes monspeliensis
Family · Asparagaceae · Harmless
The clump of bare green stems, like rushes, that in May covers itself in blue flowers emerging straight from the tip. It is neither a rush nor has leaves: the stems do everything, and that is what the scientific name says.
Scrubland · Uplands · Fields and pasture
Also known asMontpellier blue-eyed grass
How to tell it
Thin, cylindrical green stems in a dense tuft, with no visible leaves. Bright blue six-petalled flowers, one or two at a time, emerging from the tip of each stem out of papery brown bracts.
What it is confused with
Soft rush
Juncus effusus
Place decides: rush wants water, this wants dry limestone. And blue aphyllanthes bears blue flowers at the tip, which no rush does.
What it is for
No relevant use
It is a faithful indicator of dry limestone soil, and in the scrub where it dominates it names the whole plant community.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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