Green Snowdrop
Clump just starting to flower, West Dorset
Clump in full flower
Early flower, no outer markings visible
Outer marking
Inner markings
Broad shiny leaves
Unopened flowers
Galanthus woronowii
Amaryllidaceae
February to March
It is cultivated throughout the country.
Escapes in the wild are thinly scattered and mainly
southern.
See the BSBI distribution map for Green Snowdrop
It is a neophyte which was first grown in the UK in
the 1890s and recorded in the wild in the 1980s.
It is grown in gardens, churchyards and amenity areas.
The escape is found in grassland, woodland and by
roads.
The pictures shown here were taken by a path close
to a hedge on a steep, damp hillside.
Green Snowdrop is a bulbous, clump-forming, perennial
herb.
It is low growing (up to 20cm) and spreads by division
of its bulb.
The flowers consist of 3 white outer petals and 3 inner
ones, white with a green pattern at the tips.
There are 6 yellow stamens and a single central,
greenish, style.
Leaves are broad, dark green and shiny.
This is probably one of several natural variants (there
are a large number of cultivated varieties).
You can try to identify it yourself using the scheme
suggested by M.J. Crawley, who has the following
very helpful link on the web:
Spring Snowdrop Identification:
There are 4 main criteria
1. Leaf width
2. Leaf colour (blue grey or bright grass green)
3. Leaf base (wrap-around or flat-facing)
4. Petal mark (mouth, base, both or solid)
The marking of the normal snowdrop, G. nivalis, can
be seen on this link to its January pages.
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Clump just starting to flower, West Dorset
Clump in full flower
Early flower, no outer markings visible
Outer marking
Inner markings
Broad shiny leaves
Unopened flowers
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