BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
113 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
THE SNOWDROP. 
There is perhaps some doubt whether the 
snowdrop is really indigenous to this country. 
It is found in various parts of England, Scot- 
land, and Ireland, but, we believe, in every 
instance occurring in situations which admit 
the possibility of its being the remains of 
some ancient and long-forgotten garden. The 
doubt is in some degree strengthened by its 
wide-spread dilFusion, and yet local occurrence. 
We mention the doubt without being inclined 
fully to adopt it, because although it is possi- 
ble to conceive that a bulbous-stemmed plant 
like the snowdrop might maintain its ground 
for centuries, and thus in after years appear 
among scenes of wildness, when the once trim 
garden became a neglected wilderness, yet 
does it seem unlikely that no other hardy bulb 
should have accompanied it in the garden, and 
with it maintained its position in after years. 
Further than this we have no plea to urge on 
behalf of its citizenship. 
The question just alluded to, concerns the 
few; its beauties interest the many. Few 
plants indeed are more generally known and 
admired, than is the snowdrop, that 
" First pale blossom of the opening year." 
The season at which it makes its appearance, 
together with the beautiful purity and simpli- 
city of its graceful blossoms, invest it with 
peculiar charms, which have gained for it the 
50. 
praises both of prosaic and poetic penmen. 
One or two of their passages may be tran- 
scribed. Thus Phillips says : — 
"As the dove was sent forth from the ark 
to learn whether the waters were abated, so 
does the snowdrop seem selected by Flora to 
find whether the frost be mitigated, and as a 
herald to announce the arrival of her garland. 
It is the first flower that awakes from the re- 
pose of winter, and cheers us with the assu- 
rance of the reanimation of nature ; and hence 
it has been made the emblem of consolation." 
And Wordsworth too ; he thus addresses 
it :— 
" Lone flower, hemmed in with snows, and white as 
they, 
But hardier far, once more I see thee bend 
Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend, 
Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day 
Storms, sallying from tlie mountain tops, waylay 
The rising sun, and on the plains descend ; 
Yet thou art welcome, w^elcome as a friend 
Whose zeal outruns his promise ! " 
One more selection — and the lines are as 
delicately beautiful as the flower itself — 
" Earliest biid that decks the garden, 
Fairest of the fragrant race, 
Firstborn child of vernal Flora, 
Seeking mild thy lowly place, 
Though no warm or murmuring zephyr 
Fan thy leaves with balmy wing. 
Pleased we hail thee, spotless blossom, 
Herald of the infant spring. 
White-robed flow'r, in lonely beauty, 
Rising from a wintry bed. 
Chilling winds, and blasts ungenial. 
Rudely threat'ning round thy head. 
Silv'ry bud, thy pensile foliage 
Seems the angry blast to fear ; 
Yet secure, thy tender texture 
Ornaments the rising year. 
'Tis not thine with flaunting beatity 
To attract the roving sight, — 
Nature, from her varied wardrobe. 
Chose thy vest of purest white," 
Besides being made the emblem of consola- 
tion, we are told that the snowdrop's delicate 
blossoms were formerly held sacred to virgins. 
Botanists call the snowdrop Galanthus ni- 
valis, the former or generic name being derived 
from the Greek galax (milk) and antJios 
(flower) and applied in allusion to the milky 
whiteness of the corolla ; the latter or specific 
name (the Latin nivalis, snowy) being also 
applied in reference to the actual whiteness of 
the blossoms, appearing amongst the leaves as 
if some flakes of snow had lighted on and hung 
undissolved on the blades of grass. The com- 
mon name of this plant is hence particularly 
appropriate ; for we might almost fancy that 
" Flora's breath by some transforming power, 
Had changed an icicle into a flower." 
