Identification Galanthus

[Alan_b]

Here is my Titania.
Might be able to take one of Upcher too later if it is in flower.

Eric

This looks to me to be a much nicer neater prettier 'Titania' than the one depicted by Mark - which looks too much like an ordinary nivalis flore pleno. 

[Eric Locke]

Here is my Titania.
Might be able to take one of Upcher too later if it is in flower.

Eric

This looks to me to be a much nicer neater prettier 'Titania' than the one depicted by Mark - which looks too much like an ordinary nivalis flore pleno. 

I purchased my Titania from the late Kath Dryden several years ago.

Eric

[Anthony Darby]

Looking here http://bigrab.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/if-it-looks-like-a-duck/ it would seem the phrase predates Bill Oddie.

Alan
That just illustrates the power of Google. Another example; a few weeks ago an episode of Lark Rise to Candleford had the reaper band on the edge of the cornfield and one starting the tune "Jacky boy? Master? Sing ye well? Very Well" etc, and sparked my recollection of that song from at least sixty years ago (yes, I know, I'm older than I look). I plugged the words into Google and Hey Presto, there's the song title and the rest of the words. You can even go on to Youtube and hear it played on the fiddle. Just astonishing.

Steve, did you notice the obvious lines across the corn field where tractor wheels had flattened the corn for spraying!

[TheOnionMan]

Really sorry everyone who might not like me saying this.......   

My personal feeling is that if you don't have the label and can't trace a bulb back to a reliable source then it's not right to then confidently put a label on that plant..... which may then be passed on in future years and be passed on again and end up in complete confusion over what is the correct clone of a plant way down the line.

If you like an 'unknown' in your garden it is great to enjoy it as an unknown that you like and think looks like ****   But not to definitively label it as ****.

Sorry..... Hard day at work.   

John, who are you directing your response to?  There are several posts here looking for an ID.  In my case, I received a plant as 'Titania'.  If it is wrong, let me know here and I will correct it, as I have done elsewhere, with a crocus mis-ID for example.  I think those who have less knowledge and experience than you on Galanthus are looking to your expertise, and the expertise of others, no chiding necessary.

[KentGardener]

John, who are you directing your response to?  There are several posts here looking for an ID.
In my case, I received a plant as 'Titania'.  If it is wrong, let me know here and I will correct it, as I have done elsewhere, with a crocus mis-ID for example.  I think those who have less knowledge and experience than you on Galanthus are looking to your expertise, and the expertise of others, no chiding necessary.

Hi Mark

I think my response is directed at no-one in particular over the last 6 years (myself included I am sure).

In recent years I have really worried about things ending up with the wrong label and then getting passed around as such.  I've been on the receiving end of incorrect snowdrops, from reputable suppliers - that they say are definitely the real thing as they got it from someone else who is also a reputable supplier..... etc.... I'm sure you can see the problem.

My post most definitely wasn't directed at you - it took me so long to write it (and then reword it so that I didn't upset anyone or sound too grumpy (and I've obviously failed, sorry.) that I don't think your
post was even there when I started typing it.

[Alan_b]

.... In my case, I received a plant as 'Titania'.  If it is wrong, let me know here and I will correct it, as I have done elsewhere, with a crocus mis-ID for example....

I will stick my neck out and say that is not Titania, or indeed any Greatorex double.  It's just too ugly - to my eyes those aberrant inner petals on the outermost whorl really ruin the look of the plant.  This is really characteristic of nivalis flore pleno, but something Greatorex {largely} managed to breed out of his doubles.  I could be wrong because it is difficult to tell from the two photos; nor do they give any idea of the stature of the plant.  But my immediate response to the photos was that whatever it was, I wouldn't want it.  I don't react that way to the genuine Greatorex doubles.    

[Alan_b]

....In recent years I have really worried about things ending up with the wrong label and then getting passed around as such.  I've been on the receiving end of incorrect snowdrops, from reputable suppliers - that they say are definitely the real thing as they got it from someone else who is also a reputable supplier..... etc.... I'm sure you can see the problem.

I hope it is obvious from my previous posts that I agree completely with KentGardener.  We can say whether a photo of a named snowdrop looks like the cultivar it is supposed to be.  We can also respond to a photograph of an unnamed snowdrop with the names of those cultivars it resembles (Mark Smyth is particularly adept at this).  But one cannot attribute a name to a snowdrop you are growing purely on the basis of a resemblance to a named cultivar.  Ideally there would be some disclaimer at the top of this thread to that effect but as that cannot be done it is worth repeating from time to time.        

[jamouatt]

Is there any chance you are the victim of the same misidentification and what you have is actually Anglesey Abbey?  I don't know if any Anglesey Abbey was originally distributed as lagodechianus - perhaps some went to a nurseryman who is not a snowdrop specialist and never caught up with the revised nomenclature?

The bulb came from Foxgrove Plants last spring Alan. I don't grow Anglesey Abbey so can't do a direct comparison.

John(M)

[Maggi Young]

This is really characteristic of nivalis flore pleno, but something Greatorex managed to breed out of his doubles.

The Snowdrop book seems to suggest that Greatorex was not entirely successful in that aim; there are comments about the various Greatorex forms  having occasional aberrations, or "fewer" aberrations, if I recall correctly. Infact the whole section on those plants makes note of the fact that the variation in differing conditions etc is such that ID is at best tenuous for these plants. I would contest that this is the case for a great many more of these plants, of course!

When this thread began, I thought it would be more about trying to find what species a plant was, more than a cultivar ID and I think it is fair enough to say loud and clear that while it may walk like a duck and quack like a duck, that only tells us it is a duck... not what KIND of duck! 

[RichardW]

had a look at the two plants I've been given as Titania this morning, one is neat, with very deep green marks & rosette, the other just looks like Flore Pleno, also been offered another which is much taller...

[Alan_b]

The Greatorex doubles have been around for a long time and have been widely circulated so there is plenty of scope for confusion.  I gather there has been quite a lot of confusion about which one has which name, so one man's Titania could be another man's Ophelia, for example.  But I don't think any of them could be confused with a nivalis flore pleno and if you have one which could then it isn't worth keeping (as a named snowdrop, anyway).

[TheOnionMan]

I will stick my neck out and say that is not Titania, or indeed any Greatorex double.  It's just too ugly

OMG, can't believe my eyes, never thought I'd see the word "ugly" in reference to a snowdrop .  Can someone please post a photo of the true 'Titania', I could not find one on this forum when I did a search.  I might rename mine Galanthus 'Ugly American'  

This is really characteristic of nivalis flore pleno, but something Greatorex managed to breed out of his doubles.  I could be wrong because it is difficult to tell from the two photos; nor do they give any idea of the stature of the plant. 

My plant is 8 cm tall.

But my immediate response to the photos was that whatever it was, I wouldn't want it.  I don't react that way to the genuine Greatorex doubles.     

Well, my plump and ugly little whatever it is snowdrop, it sort of grows on you, like looking at a pet bulldog, they're so dang ugly that they're kind of cute.  Please, no begging for my plant, I'm not sharing

[Maggi Young]

Well, going by the Titania references in the Forum, I think it is all too clear that her identity is none too clear!!
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=209.msg4777;topicseen#msg4777 .... for instance....!
 
Two GalanthoForumists have got photos on their websites......

http://www.galanthus-online.de/kultivare-p-z/titania.html
 
http://www.sneeuwklokjes.info/pics/titania.html

You pays your money and .... you takes your chance rather than choice, I reckon!

So long as you love your baby, McMark, that's all that matters.... even if the other parents are giggling, huh?!! 

[TheOnionMan]

Well, going by the Titania references in the Forum, I think it is all too clear that her identity is none too clear!!
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=209.msg4777;topicseen#msg4777 .... for instance....!
 
Two GalanthoForumists have got photos on their websites......

http://www.galanthus-online.de/kultivare-p-z/titania.html
 
http://www.sneeuwklokjes.info/pics/titania.html

You pays your money and .... you takes your chance rather than choice, I reckon!

So long as you love your baby, McMark, that's all that matters.... even if the other parents are giggling, huh?!! 

I am reminded by your first link that I had seen that thread at the time, but the photo of 'Titania' and other doubles are listed with the disclaimer "As supplied to me", so not conclusive.  Checked out both web links, unfortunately can't see the detail of the doubling.  The site that did have detail shots of all doubles was Judy's Snowdrops, but the site URL appears to be invalid now.

[Maggi Young]

Exactly, McMark.... doesn't that tell you something about the muddles abounding here?

As to Judy's Snowdrops site being unavailable meantime.... we are told that is because of the bandwidth being exceeded on the present server and so the site may be down at times or until a new server is arranged.