British Plants and Flowers – Snowdrop

Name – Galanthus nivalis is the botanical name, taken from the Latin 'nivalis' - meaning 'snowy'. In the language of flowers, snowdrop is known as the 'flower of hope' because it offers the first sign of life returning to the earth after the long winter months, however the gloomy old Victorians also linked the snowdrop to the dead because it grew close to the ground and therefore closer to those buried!

Description - All species of Galanthus grow from bulbs and have long slim leaves, and erect flowering stalks with no leaves but bearing at the top a solitary pendulous bell-shaped flower, The white flower has six petals, the outer three segments being larger and more convex than the inner series and most have a green marking on the lower edge of the outer petals.

Origin –Propagation is by offsets removed when the plants are at rest, 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 varieties quickly – in the home garden the easiest way to spread snowdrops is to dig them up when the leaves have become pale and flat, and divide the masses of bulbs. This delicate looking bulb contains some magic ingredient, yet to be isolated, that allows it to punch through three or four inches of packed snow to flower, and not to suffer any frost damage. An extract from the plant called galantamine can be helpful in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease but is not a cure.

For Decoration - It is another bloom that is considered unlucky to pick and bring into the house, possibly because the whole plant is poisonous.

British plant snowdrop photograph by botheredbybees, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

bluebell, comfrey, flax, foxglove, hawthorn, heartsease, heather, herb robert, holly, hollyhock, honeysuckle, hop, hornbeam, jacobs ladder, larkspur, oak, periwinkle, rowan, silver birch, snowdrop, tansy, vipers bugloss, wild strawberry, willow, yarrow

© blueworldgardener.co.uk