Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden, South Africa

Family: Asparagaceae (Asparagus)

Distribution: Western Europe: north-western Spain and Portugal, to the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Ireland. Widely naturalised & introduced globally.

Habitat: Woodland

Life form: Geophyte (bulb, corm or tuber - seasonally dormant)

Usage: Horticultural

Comments: Bluebells grow mostly in deciduous woodland, flowering and leafing early before the canopy closes in late spring.
Despite the wide distribution of H. non-scripta, it grows in highest numbers in and density in Britain and Ireland where it is estimated that 25%–50% of all common bluebells may be found. "Bluebell woods" with the understory dominated by H. non-scripta in spring are a familiar sight here.
Common bluebells are found in Belgium, Great Britain, France, Ireland, Portugal, the Netherlands and Spain, and introduced and naturalized in Germany, Italy and Romania. They have also been introduced and can be highly invasive into parts of North America, both the Pacific Northwest (British Columbia, Washington and Oregon), the Great Lakes region (Ontario, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania) and other parts of the United States (the Virginias, Kentucky and Indiana), and New Zealand.