Snowdrops 



Robin Hood is one of the best of his hybrids ; it is Elwesii 

 X plicatus, and a fine bold flower with a great deal of deep 

 green on the inner segments. Galatea is a very well- 

 formed, glistening white seedling, apparently nivalis x plicatus. 

 A distinct one is Magnet, in which the pedicel is very long 

 and slender, and the large nivalis-formed flowers hang and 

 sway in the breeze in a way that reminds one of a 

 Dierama. He also raised a double form with the same 

 peculiarity of a long foot-stalk that I like very much, be- 

 cause, like another of his doubles called Charmer, there 

 are no more than three outer segments, the doubling 

 consisting entirely of a neat rosette of inner segments, 

 instead of the mixed muddle of inner and outer segments 

 found in the ordinary double form of G. nivalis. The 

 beautiful G. Allenii named after him is a wild species, and 

 very remarkable for its immense leaves, which at maturity 

 measure about a foot in length and an inch and a half in 

 width. When the flower is at its best they are much shorter, 

 however, but even when first they unfold they look more 

 like the leaves of some Tulip than of any Snowdrop. The 

 flower is very round in form and of a good size, though 

 not in proportion to the promise of the leaves for then 

 it would have to be as large as a good-sized Daffodil. 



There is more than one form of this species, and 

 I have some that it is hard to decide whether they should 

 be placed as varieties of Allenii or of the much smaller but 

 similarly-shaped G. latifolius, a dull little thing that might be 

 attractive if it could be induced to flower more freely. 

 The leaves have a very cheery appearance, being very 

 bright green and beautifully polished, but here the flowers 

 are always few, and too insignificant for the foliage. There 

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