Young blonde haired girl taking a photo of common snowdrops on a spring morning.
Certain species flower in late autumn and winter. Snowdrops are sometimes confused with their relatives, snowflakes, which are Leucojum and Acis species. Some snowdrop species are threatened in their wild habitats, and in most countries it is now illegal to collect bulbs from the wild. Galanthus nivalis is the most widespread representative of the genus Galanthus. It is native to a large area of Europe. 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, 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 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.
Size: 5616px × 3744px
Location: Oxfordshire
Photo credit: © Brian Perry / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: Yes
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