192 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The generic name of the Snowdrop is Galanthus, or literally 

 the " milk-flower." Old John Evelyn called it 1 * snow-flower " 

 in his " Kalendarium Hortense," just as the French people call 

 it " Snow Piercer" (Perce Neige) to-day. 



One of the earliest portraits of the common Snowdrop (G. 

 nivalis) is that of L'Obel, who gave a characteristic wood 

 engraving in his " Stirpium Historia," published at Antwerp in 

 157G. Our own Gerarde, in 1597, uses this figure of L'Obel's, 

 and also an engraving of a larger species, which may have been 

 G. Impcrati, or possibly G. plicatus. Then Clusius, in his 

 noble "Historia" of 1601, also uses these two figures, and 

 tells us that the larger Snowdrop came to Europe by way of 

 Constantinople, or Byzantium as it was then called. 



It is extremely doubtful whether we can claim the common 

 Snowdrop as a true native of England ; my own impression is 

 that it is mainly found growing where, as Goldsmith tells us, 

 " once a garden smiled." Hooker, in the " Students' Flora," 

 tells us that the Snowdrop is " frequently naturalised in England 

 and Scotland, hardly in Ireland," and adds that "it is possibly 

 wild in Hertford and Denbigh." 



The plant seems more truly at home on the Continent, where 

 it grows all through " Southern and Central Europe from the 

 Pyrenees to the Caucasus." 



The best account of the species generally is by Mr. J. G. 

 Baker in his " Amaryllidacea3," where six species are described, 

 and the seventh, viz., G. Fosteri, has since been described in the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Mr. J. G. BAKEK'S SPECIES OF GALANTHUS. 



(In " Amaryllidacefe," pp. 16-18, and in Gard. Chron. April 1889, p. 458.) 



1 



2 



3 



4 



5 



6 



7 



G. nivalis, L. 



G. grcscus, 

 Orph. 



G. Elwesii, 

 Hook, fils 



G. latifolius, 

 Ruprecht 



G. Olgce, Orph. 



G. plicatusj 

 M. B. 



G. Fosteri, 

 Baker 



Pyrenees to 

 the Caucasus. 

 Sub-species : 

 G. Imperati, 

 G. caucasicus. 



Feb. and Mar. 



Isle of Chios, 

 on Mount 

 Pellinos, alt. 

 3,000 to 4,000 

 feet. 



April 



Asia-Minor, 

 near Smyrna, 

 alt. 3,700 feet 

 on the Ma- 

 nissa range. 



May 



Caucasus, alt. 

 6,000 to 8,000 

 feet. 



May 



Greece, on 

 Mouiit Tay- 

 getus. 



October 



Crimea, and 

 Mountains of 

 Dobruscha. 



Mar. and Apr. 



Amasia, in the- 

 Province of 

 Sirwas, N. 

 Central Asia- 

 Minor. 



April 



The above is a tabulated view of the species described by Mr. Baker. 



