Cicely Mary Barker's Scilla Fairy

"Scilla, Scilla, tell me true,
Why are you so very blue?"

Oh, I really cannot say
Why I'm made this lovely way!

I might know, if I were wise.
Yet-I've heard of seas and skies,

Where the blue is deeper far
Than our skies of Springtime are.
P'r'aps I'm here to let you see
What that Summer blue will be.

When you see it, think of me!

From the middle of  long, narrow leaves, rising from the small bulb, rises the flower-stem, bearing the pendulous, bell-shaped blossoms, arranged in a long curving line. The petals are bluish-purple and composed of six leaflets. Scilla is a perennial that is in flower from early in April until the end of May. They are found year after year in the same spot, forming a mass of rich color in the woods where they grows. The long leaves remain above ground until late in the autumn.

Medicinal Uses: Though little used in modern medicine, the bulb has diuretic and styptic properties.  Bluebell juice may be used to cure snake-bite. The flowers have a slight, starch-like scent, but no medicinal uses have been ascribed to them. The bulbs are poisonous in the fresh state. The viscid juice so abundantly contained in them and existing in every part of the plant has been used as a substitute for starch. From its gummy character, it was also employed as bookbinders' gum.