Keyed Out #061 — Muscari armeniacum

Question 1

It rises from a {bulb} as a leafless {scape} hung with many small six-parted flowers, and in each one the {tepal}s and stamens spring from beneath the seed-box, which sits free and unwrapped by any papery hood.

Accepted Answer

asparagus family

Question 2

Open a single flower and count the pollen-stalks inside: there are six, one seated at the base of every {tepal}, never a mere three.

Accepted Answer

Asparagaceae

Question 3

Its six {tepal}s are fused into a tight {urceolate} urn about 4 to 5 mm (about 3/16 inch) long, pinched almost shut at a small mouth rimmed with pale teeth, so the flower never spreads open.

Accepted Answer

Muscari

Question 4

The crowded spike is capped by a topknot of smaller, paler, scentless flowers that set no seed — a bright sterile {coma} standing above the fertile urns below.

Accepted Answer

Muscari

Question 5

Its urns glow a clear, saturated cobalt-to-azure blue, each finished with a narrow pale-toothed rim, never a dusky near-black.

Accepted Answer

Muscari armeniacum

Question 6

It throws up several — often three to six — narrow, deeply channelled leaves that flop out 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 cm) long, overtopping the flower stalk, not a single stiff pair.

Accepted Answer

Muscari armeniacum