HARDY BULBS 37 



universally appreciated. It is more varied in character 

 and in its time of blooming than many are aware of. The 

 earliest Snowdrops come into bloom in autumn or early 

 winter, and lovers of the flower who wish to grow these 

 interesting varieties, which are forms of G. nivalis, the 

 common Snowdrop, will find that G. corcyrensis and G. 

 octobrensis are those most easily procured. They require 

 a rather light and sandy soil. In their general appear- 

 ance they closely resemble the common form of G. 

 nivalis, but are generally recognisable by the light colour 

 of the line which runs up the centre of the leaf. Others 

 blooming about the same season are G. Rachelae and 

 G. Elsae. These flowers show a tendency to draw 

 nearer to the spring Snowdrops as they become estab- 

 lished. There are too many varieties of the common 

 Snowdrop in existence to detail, but one may name 

 Melvillei, a splendid flower of great beauty, poculiformis, 

 which has the inner and outer segments of almost equal 

 length ; Scharloki, which has separated spathes and a 

 green spot at the base of each outer segment ; and 

 aestivalis and Gusmusi, two late forms, as representative, 

 if we exclude a number of named varieties which have 

 been raised by Mr James Allen and others. The so- 

 called " Yellow Snowdrops " have yellow instead of 

 green markings and ovaries. The best are G. lutescens 

 and G. flavescens. 



The Italian sub-species Imperati gives us some hand- 

 some flowers, larger than those of our native Snowdrop ; 

 the finest is the variety Atkinsi, a noble Galanthus. 

 The sub-species caucasicus is principally noteworthy as 

 giving us the form virescens, which has its flowers all 

 flushed with green outside. 



One of the finest Snowdrops is G. Elwesii, from Asia 

 Minor, of which there are many local and seedling forms. 

 That sold as ochrospeilus, and the large variety named 

 Whittalli, are equal to any other of the wild forms. 



