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.
Open sheet →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.