Galanthus: January 2008

[Alan_b]

Tony I could be wrong but I think your snowdrop could be a hybrid with gracilis. One leaf shows a slight twist

Wow, that was well-spotted Mark.  But a trip to my local garden centre yesterday revealed a huge range of sizes and markings amongst the elwesii on sale for £2.99 for a pot with 6-8 bulbs!  There was one there I could not resist and I would have taken its photgraph if it had not been so windy today.

[mark smyth]

wind? When there is a will ...

[Tony Willis]

Tony I could be wrong but I think your snowdrop could be a hybrid with gracilis. One leaf shows a slight twist

This could lead me to being struck off-is there any difference between these two species?

Mine are all my own seed collections and gracilis is not known from this site and I have others in all shapes and sizes.I have a pot of gracilis from Ray Cobb and they look just like some of my elwesii.

here is a picture from last year of some more from the same batch.I will have more to show over the next couple of weeks

He has seen the plants on the same site and was unable to make a definitive identification. I am visiting him tomorrow (he is my oldest friend) and i will take it for his opinion and report back.

[mark smyth]

Again I could be wrong but those leaves are missing typical elwesii hoods ie one leaf from each bulb - the leaf that wraps around the other while emerging - has a pinched tip. Thise flowers scream gracilis/hybrid to me. I'm willing to be shot down. Where's Martin when we need him?

[Paddy Tobin]

Ian,

Mrs. Macnamara is a lady who performs very well indeed, I believe. Good to have the occasional woman who does so!

I was reading up on this snowdrop in the last few days after Chris S. passed comment on it and it gets great praise, particularly making an excellent display in a good-sized clump. I haven't got it at present but must chase it down.

Paddy

[mark smyth]

Paddy did you ever look at your group of plicatus?

[Maggi Young]

I haven't got it at present but must chase it down.

Now, Paddy, if Mary catches you chasing down Mrs Macnamara, there'll be hell to pay, I don't doubt

[ian mcenery]

Maggi didn't get your last remark before the tribe arrived for dinner. Phew they are gone now and its peaceful again. The remark related to all of the unnecessary aids to digestion etc. you are just obviously too sensitive. So much so that you obviously missed Paddy's damming with faint praise assessment of the female gender and allowed this without comment 

[Maggi Young]

Ian, I am working at increasing my tolerance levels for the New Year.... it's one matter for things to be over when the fat lady sings, quite another when the end is signalled by her screaming her head off.....I'm still going to be tough on the chocolate for puns levy, though 

[Paddy Tobin]

Mark,

Promise, will do my best to take a selection of photographs during the week for your inspection.

Paddy

[Alan_b]

Anything Unusual?

At the other end of my village is a large house with a beautiful bank of thousands of snowdrops.  To my untutored eye they look like ordinary Galanthus nivalis but year-on-year they start to flower in early January, weeks before any other nivalis hereabouts.  This year I begged three bulbs for my garden which are depicted here.  My idea is to see if they continue to flower early when relocated.

When I planted them I noticed that they are a greener green than the glaucous green of most of my snowdrops (they are on the right in the aerial view).  Can anyone else see any other unusual features I have missed?   

[mark smyth]

a good find but they are quite common in the huge snowdrop woods I was in in Scotland a couple of years ago

[Thomas Huber]

My first thought was, that the leaves are much more green than common grey-green-nivalis leaves!
Are the leaves applanat? It's not clearly visible from the photo!

[Alan_b]

My first thought was, that the leaves are much more green than common grey-green-nivalis leaves!
Are the leaves aplicat? It's not clearly visible from the photo!

I did not show the back side of the leaf but there is no folding back that I can see.  And the leaves are just as narrow as a normal nivalis.

[Martin Baxendale]

Again I could be wrong but those leaves are missing typical elwesii hoods ie one leaf from each bulb - the leaf that wraps around the other while emerging - has a pinched tip. Thise flowers scream gracilis/hybrid to me. I'm willing to be shot down. Where's Martin when we need him?

Sorry Mark, I'm trying to finish a book that has to go to the printers next Monday. Gracilis/elwesii? I've certainly seen gracilis (or what reliable people were growing as gracilis) with leaves that wide. Then again, I've seen elwesii with pretty narrow leaves. I've also seen elwesii with leaves that twist a bit. The clincher is that elwesii should have decidedly convolute leaves, while gracilis should have applanate leaves. A close inspection of the bases of the leaves should help with ID.

Having said all that, elwesii and gracilis are obviously very closely related (they have the same DNA mass as well as looking similar) and whether they're separate species or variants of one species - well, the botanists have been having fun with these two species for decades and I doubt we've heard the last of it.