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snowdrop

Snowdrop is the common name for members of the genus Galanthus, a small genus of about 20 species in the family Amaryllidaceae; snowdrops are among the first bulbs to bloom in spring, although certain species flower in late autumn and winter.

(Snowdrops are sometimes confused with their relatives, snowflakes, which are Leucojum and Acis species; see below.)

Distribution

Galanthus nivalis is the best-known and most widespread representative of the genus Galanthus. It is native to a large area of Europe, stretching from Spain in the west, through France and Germany to Poland in the north, Italy, Greece and Turkey, and eastwards to Armenia and the Ukraine. It has been introduced and is widely naturalised elsewhere. Although it is often thought of as a British native wild flower, or to have been brought to the British Isles by the Romans, it was probably introduced around the early sixteenth century.

Most other Galanthus species are from the eastern Mediterranean, though several are found in South Russia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.Bishop, Davis & Grimshaw (2002) pp17–57 Galanthus fosteri comes from Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and maybe Israel.Bishop, Davis & Grimshaw (2002) p40

Conservation

Some snowdrop species are threatened in their wild habitats, and in most countries it is now illegal to collect bulbs from the wild. Under CITES regulations, international trade in any quantity of Galanthus, whether bulbs, live plants or even dead ones, is illegal without a CITES permit. This applies to hybrids and named cultivars as well as species. CITES does, however, allow a limited trade in wild-collected bulbs of just three species (G. nivalis, G, elwesii and G. woronowii) from Turkey and Georgia.Bishop, Davis & Grimshaw (2002) pp341–343

Description

All species of Galanthus are perennial, herbaceous plants which grow from bulbs. Each bulb generally produces just two or three linear leaves and an erect, leafless scape (flowering stalk), which bears at the top a pair of bract-like spathe valves joined by a papery membrane. From between them emerges a solitary, pendulous, bell-shaped white flower, held on a slender pedicel. The flower has no petals: it consists of six tepals, the outer three being larger and more convex than the inner series. The six anthers open by pores or short slits. The ovary is three-celled, ripening into a three-celled capsule. Each whitish seed has a small, fleshy tail (elaiosome) containing substances attractive to ants which distribute the seeds.Bishop, Davis & Grimshaw (2002) p7 The leaves die back a few weeks after the flowers have faded.

The inner flower segments are usually marked with a green, or greenish-yellow, bridge-shaped mark over the small "sinus" (notch) at the tip of each tepal.

An important feature which helps to distinguish between species (and to help to determine the parentage of hybrids) is their "vernation" (the arrangement of the emerging leaves relative to each other). This can be "applanate", "supervolute" or "explicative". In applanate vernation the two leaf blades are pressed flat to each other within the bud and as they emerge; explicative leaves are also pressed flat against each other, but the edges of the leaves are folded back or sometimes rolled; in supervolute plants one leaf is tightly clasped around the other within the bud and generally remains at the point where the leaves emerge from the soil.Bishop, Davis & Grimshaw (2002) pp1–2

Notable species

Common snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis, grows to around 7–15 cm tall, flowering between January and April in the northern temperate zone (January–May in the wild). Applanate vernationBishop, Davis & Grimshaw (2002) p17

Crimean snowdrop, Galanthus plicatus, 30 cm tall, flowering January/March, white flowers, with broad leaves folded back at the edges (explicative vernation)

Giant snowdrop, Galanthus elwesii, a native of the Levant, 23 cm tall, flowering January/February, with large flowers, the three inner segments of which often have a much larger and more conspicuous green blotch (or blotches) than the more common kinds; supervolute vernation

Galanthus reginae-olgae, from Greece and Sicily, is quite similar in appearance to G. nivalis, but flowers in autumn before the leaves appear. The leaves, which appear in the spring, have a characteristic white stripe on their upper side; applanate vernation. (Galanthus reginae-olgae subsp. vernalis from Sicily, northern Greece and the south of former Yugoslavia, blooms at the end of the winter with developed young leaves and is thus easily confused with G. nivalis)

Cultivars

There are numerous single- and double-flowered cultivars of Galanthus nivalis, and also of several other Galanthus species, particularly G. plicatus and G. elwesii. There are also many hybrids between these and other species (there are more than 500 cultivars described in Bishop, Davis & Grimshaw's book, plus lists of many cultivars that have now been lost, and others not seen by the authors). They differ particularly in the size, shape and markings of the flower, the period of flowering, and other characteristics, mainly of interest to the keen (even fanatical) snowdrop collectors, known as "galanthophiles", who hold meetings where the scarcer cultivars change hands.Bishop, Davis & Grimshaw (2002) p329 Double-flowered cultivars and forms, such as the extremely common Galanthus nivalis f. pleniflorus 'Flore Pleno', may be less attractive to some people but they can have greater visual impact in a garden setting.

Propagation

Propagation is by offset bulbs, either by careful division of clumps in full growth ("in the green"), or removed when the plants are dormant, immediately after the leaves have withered; or by seeds sown either when ripe, or in spring. Professional growers and keen amateurs also use such methods as "twin-scaling" to increase the stock of choice cultivars quickly.

Similar genera

Snowdrops are sometimes confused with their relatives, snowflakes, Leucojum and Acis species. Leucojums are much larger and flower in spring (or early summer, depending on the species), with all six tepals in the flower being the same size, though it should be noted that some "poculiform" (goblet- or cup-shaped) Galanthus can have inner segments similar in shape and length to the outer ones.

Active substances

It was suggested by Duvoisin in 1983 that the mysterious magical herb moly that appears in Homer's Odyssey is actually snowdrop. An active substance in snowdrop is called galantamine, which, as anticholinesterase, could have acted as an antidote to Circe's poisons.Plaitakis A, Duvoisin RC, Homer's moly identified as Galanthus nivalis L.: physiologic antidote to stramonium poisoning. Clin Neuropharmacol. 1983 Mar; 6(1):1-5. Abstract Galantamine (or galanthamine) can be helpful in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, though it is not a cure; the substance also occurs naturally in daffodils and other narcissi.

Snowdrop gardens in the UK and Ireland

Celebrated as a sign of spring, snowdrops can form impressive carpets of white in areas where they are native or have been naturalised. These displays may attract large numbers of sightseers. Several gardens open specially in February for visitors to admire the flowers. Sixty gardens took part in Scotland's first Snowdrop Festival (1 Feb–11 March 2007). Notable snowdrop gardens include:

Anglesey Abbey, Lode, Cambridgeshire

Bank Hall, Bretherton, Lancashire

Benington Lordship, Hertfordshire

Brandy Mount, New Alresford, Hampshire (NCCPG National Plant Collection of Snowdrops)

Cambo Estate, Fife, Scotland

Colesbourne Park, Gloucestershire

East Lambrook Manor, Somerset

Easton Lodge, near Little Easton, Essex

Easton Walled Gardens, near Grantham, Lincolnshire

Felley Priory, Nottinghamshire

Finlaystone, Renfrewshire, Scotland

Kingston Lacey, Dorset

Hodsock Priory, Nottinghamshire

Moggerhanger House, Bedfordshire

Painswick Rococo Gardens, Gloucestershire

Rodmarton Manor, Gloucestershire

Walsingham, Norfolk

Welford Park, Berkshire

;Ireland

Mark Smyth's Garden in Antrim

Primrose Hill, Lucan, County Dublin, Ireland

Gallery

Image:Illustration Galanthus nivalis0.jpg|Illustration of common snowdrop from Thomé
Image:snowdrop.cluster.arp.jpg|Snowdrops in England in January
Image:Blaikiewell_snowdrops.jpg|Snowdrops growing in a cluster
Image:Galanthus elwesii0.jpg|Galanthus elwesii
Image:Snowdrop closeup 2005 01.jpg|Snowdrop

Image:Galanthus nivalis 2005.jpg
Image:Snowdrop.JPG |Snowdrops in the snow
Image:Snow drop.JPG

Snowdrops in literature and other media

In Neil Gaiman's novel Stardust, Dunstan Thorn and subsequently his son Tristran carry a glass snowdrop that chimes when held. The flower has a very small, but pivotal role in the story

In the anime film Twelve Months (Sekai meisaku dowa mori wa ikiteiru in Japan), a greedy queen decrees that a basket of gold coins shall be rewarded to anyone who can bring her galanthus flowers in the dead of winter. A young girl named Anya is sent out during a snow storm by her cruel stepmother and find the spirits of the 12 months of the year, who take pity on her and not only save her from freezing to death, but make it possible for her to gather the flowers even in winter

In the manga "Snow Drop" by Choi kyung-ah, Snow Drop was the name of the book that Yo So-Na's mom wrote. The name of the four characters in the manga was taken from that book: So-na, Hae-gi, Ko-mo, Gae-Ri. In this manga, snowdrop represented hope and warmth, because of the legend it carries in Korea

Snowdrops feature in Seamus Heaney's poem Mid-term Break in the context of mourning a dead infantText of, and brief commentary on, Seamus Heaney's Mid-term Break