×Chionoscilla

The nothogenus ×Chionoscilla was established to name the hybrids which appear when Scilla bifolia and Chionodoxa are growing in close proximity. When the nothogenus ×Chionoscilla was established, Scilla and Chionodoxa were regarded as separate genera. Present thinking merges these two genera, and the entities formerly regarded as intergeneric hybrids are now treated as interspecific hybrids within the genus Scilla. Thus the name ×Chionoscilla is obsolete.


Shown below is an example of ×Chionoscilla which appeared spontaneously in the Montgomery County, Maryland, USA garden of Jim McKenney. Note the partially flattened filaments of the anthers and the gray-yellow pollen. The pollen color is a characteristic of Scilla bifolia, and flattened filaments are characteristic of the plants formerly called Chionodoxa. Early in the twentieth century, clonal ×Chionoscilla selections were named and traded.

×Chionoscilla, Jim McKenney

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