The snowdrop flower has a hooded shape comprising six white petals,
three outer and three inner. The shape keeps the flower warmer than its
surroundings, helping the flower’s pollen to ripen.
Green markings on the inner petals are pollen guides for bees and other
insects. Snowdrop flowers open when ambient temperature reaches
10°C allowing insects in. Snowdrops provide an important source of
nectar for early flying insects.
Snowdrops grow from bulbs in spring. The bulbs, with their store of
energy, allow snowdrops to emerge quickly capitalising on the absence
of a leafy woodland canopy and its heavy shade. Ideal conditions are
damp soil and dappled shade.
A snowdrop’s leaves are long and thin with specially hardened tips that
will push through frozen soil, snow and even ice. The French name for
snowdrops is ‘pierce-neige’ meaning snowpiercer. The leaves contain
a natural antifreeze that stops the cells from freezing and splitting
themselves apart, destroying the plant.
Snowdrops can set seed if the conditions are warm enough, but
reproduction is mainly by vegetative means, they produce offsets easily.
When a snowdrop does set seed the stem collapses leaving the seed
pod on the soil’s surface. Each seed has an oil rich appendage called an
elastiome, which ants find highly attractive. They take the seeds to their
nests and feed the elastiome to their larva leaving the seed to germinate
away from the parent plant.
There are 20 known species, the most common being Galanthus nivalis,
Galanthus elwesii, and Galanthus plicatus. Carl Linnaeus (the Swedish
biologist who formalised binomial classification – the modern system of
naming organisms) gave the snowdrop the genus Galanthus from the
Greek words ‘gala’ meaning milk and ‘anthos’ meaning flower. The
species name nivalis means ‘of the snow.’
There are many hybrid snowdrops. Their names often reflecting flower
characteristics or particular places. People often become hooked on
collecting different species and their hybrids, sometimes becoming a bit
of a horticultural obsession. Such individuals are referred to as
Galanthophiles!
Snowdrops are not native to the UK. They were brought over from
mainland Europe in the 16 th century and planted in gardens and
churchyards. Many believe they were brought over earlier than this
perhaps by Norman monks.
Snowdrops, perhaps due to their colour and early flowering, symbolise
chastity, consolation, death, friendship in adversity, hope and purity.
They were used by Christians, who would scatter the flowers on altars
on Candlemas Day (2nd February), dedicating them to the Virgin Mary. As
a result churchyards are often full of snowdrops.
Monks would also cultivate snowdrops in Abbey physic gardens as a
medicinal plant for the treatment of ’Mal au Tete’, problems of the head.
Interestingly an alkaloid found in snowdrops (Galantamine) is now used
to treat Alzheimer’s (Note – snowdrops are NOT edible!!).
Snowdrops grow in deciduous woodland, flowering early in the year
under a woodland canopy that is yet to come into leaf. Therefore, they
favour good light levels early in the year. Woodland soil is generally well
drained and rich in leaf litter / organic matter. These are all conditions a
gardener should replicate to grow happy snowdrops that will hopefully
increase in number over time.
Whilst we have not done a major snowdrop planting for many years the
bulbs we planted years ago are going strong. We will be planting more
over the next few years as we plan to increase the number of spring
bulbs in the garden, especially ones that will establish well and increase
in number, naturalising through the garden. This is consistent with our
sustainable gardening ethos.
