SNOWDROPS. 



177 



number of bulbs, so that it will soon become well known. I am 

 indebted to both gentlemen for a supply of roots. It bloomed 

 with me first last season, and I must confess that it did not come 

 up to my expectations ; but I think it is scarcely fair to pass 

 judgment on it before it has been grown in our gardens for some 

 four or five years so as to develop its true character. The collected 

 bulbs, which were planted in January 1890, had almost lost their 

 vitality, and will require several years to recover their strength. 

 I understand that in the favoured spots of their native habitat 

 the bulbs of G. Fosteri are as large as those of a good- sized 

 Narcissus. This seems to be the most sportive of all the 

 Galanthi as to size, form, and marking of the flowers. From the 

 comparatively few bulbs I have already bloomed, I have had 

 flowers with petals of every imaginable shape, some showing 

 points of great beauty, and others quite the reverse. We must 

 be patient and weed out unsparingly, and then in a few years we 

 shall be proud of G. Fosteri. The markings on the inner petals 

 are very similar to those of G. Elivesii, but the foliage is quite 

 different, being broad and somewhat blunt, and in shape and 

 colour much like the leaves of Scilla sihirica. Mr. Max 

 Leichtlin thinks very highly of G. Fosteri, and considers it to be 

 the "King of Snow T drops." The hard frosts of February or 

 March 1890 scorched the leaves of my plants and puckered the 

 petals of the flowers, thus indicating that a sheltered spot should 

 be selected for it. The sportive character of the flowers of 

 G. Fosteri, and the shapelessness of its leaves, lead me to think 

 that it must be a hybrid between G. Elivesii and G< latifolius, 

 although I am told that G. Elivesii is not found in the same 

 district. 



In 1883 I ordered some roots of G. latifolius from Gusmus, 

 an Austrian nurseryman. Amongst these was a bulb which 

 showed altogether a different character from the type. In 1889 

 and 1890 I sent a flower and leaf to Mr. Baker, of Kew, but he 

 w T as unable to trace its history. Recently I sent him the com- 

 plete plant in flower, and he reported it to be distinct from any 

 Snowdrop hitherto described, and quite worthy to be named, 

 and he proposes to call it G. Alleni, out of compliment to 

 myself. Mr. Baker thinks it is probably a hybrid between 

 G. latifolius and G. caucasicus, as it has some of the features 

 of each species. The flower is of much the same character as 

 that of G. latifolius, but nearly twice as large, and the foliage 



