146 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



hedgerows, during February and March. In our own 

 orchard, and nestling deep down in our hedges, we have 

 them springing up by thousands at the opening of each 

 year. 



The bulbs grow in compact clusters. The leaves are 

 two in number, bluish-green in colour, long and narrow in 

 form. At the time of flowering they are from four to six 

 inches in length, but after the blossom has died away 

 continue to elongate for some time, and may often be 

 found a foot long, and the vigorous upward growth of 

 their younger days exchanged for a somewhat drooping 

 and feeble appearance. The flowering stem that rises from 

 the midst of these little leaves bears a single flower. The 

 flowers of the snowdrop are somewhat bell-shaped, and 

 composed of six segments. Of these, three are pure 

 white ; while the other three, that alternate with these 

 and are placed within them, are considerably smaller, and 

 are tipped or blotched at their outer extremity with a spou 

 of bright green. The three outer and larger segments 

 spread outwards considerably more than do the others. 



The snow flake, the larger plant in our illustration, is in 

 many points like the snowdrop, and is, indeed, only divided 

 from it botamcally, and put into a separate genus, from 

 the forms of its perianth and anthers. In the. snowflake 

 all the segments of the perianth are of equal size ; while in 

 the snowdrop, as we have seen, three of them are larger 

 than the other three. In the snowflake the anthers open 

 in longitudinal slits ; in the snowdrop, from the top only. 

 The specific difference is indisputable, and the points of 

 difference we have named are those that appeared to 

 Linnaeus sufficient to justify the division into two dif- 

 ferent genera. Like the former plant, the snowflake is a 



