Galanthus in January 2017

[annew]

From Ian the Christie kind....

"Found this new G.  nivalis near here last year -  the inner marks close up look like a green cross under a green line below the ovary,  a neat small Snowdrop.
 
 The flowers are only 3 to 4 inches high - might get taller ,very nice pristine white flowers without doubt this is a hybrid with something (g.  plicatus?)"
 

Like a mini-Lapwing!

[Josh Nelson]

Again from Ian C.
"I went out today and selected some G. plicatus leaves - and a leaf from the little G. nivalis shown in the previous post.  That nivalis leaf is at the end of the first pic and is a blue green. Note the turned over leaves  on all this lot. These are hybrids, pictures are all of the reverse of the leaves. "
Cheers.
 

Think he says the one on the left of the group on the right is the nivalis?  Also, not sure if he means all are hybrids or just the ones in the group on the right with the nivalis??

[Maggi Young]

Yes, Josh,  last leaf of first group is the "nivalis" - but he thinks they are probably all hybrids.

[Maggi Young]

Anne's new 'drops are attracting  great interest on ebay - as well they might! 
One of Hagen's  gems is  soaring, too-  see Here.

Hagen Engelmann wants people to know that despite trying hard he can't currently put anything on uk eBay , so if you want to bid and try and own one of his lovely plants your best bet is to look on http://ebay.de . He will be putting up some greens soon .

 For instance :Galanthus-nivalis-GRUNE-WALDFEE 

[annew]

That sounds exciting!

[Josh Nelson]

Yes, Josh,  last leaf of first group is the "nivalis" - but he thinks they are probably all hybrids.

Thanks Maggi - those darned bees mucking it all up again (for the purists at least; I quite like some of their handiwork!)

[Maggi Young]

That's the problem with "purists" - the  plants are never going to stay as simple species if we bring them together in captivity so it's  an impossible dream.    And even in the wild  you can get  long distance bumble bees! While  natural hybrids exist it's a bit daft, I reckon, to get too hung up on such purism!

[Tim Harberd]

Please can someone advise? Is it normal for Diggory’s leaves to be mottled?? Or is my plant virused and, as such,  a threat to the rest of the collection???

Tim DH

[Maggi Young]

It would go in the fire if it were mine, Tim. If that's not virus it's doing a very good impression and discretion is the better part of valour where such things are concerned for me.

[David Nicholson]

http://www.judyssnowdrops.co.uk/problems/virus/virus.htm

[Maggi Young]

Tim Ingram has shared a link to this interesting article  from the Annals of Botany on  seed ripeness .....
https://academic.oup.com/aob/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/aob/mct051

Seed development and maturation in early spring-flowering Galanthus nivalis and Narcissus pseudonarcissus continues post-shedding with little evidence of maturation in planta

[Brian Ellis]

If it were mine it would be in the incinerator Tim.  Sad but you don't want it spreading.

[Alan_b]

is my plant virused...

Conventional wisdom is that leaf mottling like that indicates a virus.  Conventional wisdom has it that snowdrops cannot recover from a virus as you or I might so will either die in due course or hang on to life but act as a potential source of infection.  Conventional wisdom is that such viruses are spread by aphids and I doubt that you will see many of those for a few months yet.   

[johnw]

Alan / Tim  - We've seen virus on 'Primrose Warburg' from one source and it was not a pleasant day when we had to bin them.  I wonder what folks think of ridding their collections of the obvious 'Augustus'.


Alan  - I have never seen an aphis on Galanthus but some sources also mention slugs and snails and we've seen them come in droves as the leaves are dying in June and July.  My suspicion is they are the culprits unless the NBF moonlights.


johnw

[Maggi Young]

Plenty aphids around in glasshouses etc- and it has been so mild in some areas that they might easily be outside too.