snowdrop

This article covers the genus snowdrop ( Galanthus ); Regionally, the spring knot flower ( Leucojum vernum ) is also known as the snowdrop. For a dance, see the snow bell (waltz) . White Virgin and Galanthus are redirects to this article; for a menhir in Denmark see The White Virgins , for an asteroid see (1250) Galanthus .

snowdrop
Little snowdrop ( Galanthus nivalis ), illustration
Systematics
Monocots Order : Asparagales (Asparagales) Family : Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae) Subfamily : Amaryllidoideae Tribe : Galantheae Genre : snowdrop
Scientific name
Galanthus
L.

Small snowdrop ( Galanthus nivalis ): on the left the normal form and on the right the double-flowered selection form, Galanthus nivalis forma pleniflorus 'Flore Pleno'

The snowdrop ( Galanthus ) constitute a genus within the family of Amaryllidaceae family (Amaryllidaceae). The 20 or so species come from Central and Southern Europe to the Middle East and the Caucasus. They have been popular ornamental plants for centuries as they were among the first flowering plants in early spring . Three species already bloom in autumn. In Central Europe only the little snowdrop is native. Some other species occur here wildly in places. The main distribution area of ​​the snowdrops is in the countries around the Black Sea.

Naming

The botanical name Galanthus is derived from the Greek words gála for milk and ánthos for flower. The German name "Schneeglöckchen" refers to the springtime protrusion of Galanthus nivalis from the snow. Other common German names are: spring bell, pretty February girl, candlemas bells, candlemas bells, march bells, march violets, lady candles, milk flower, snow piercer, snow tulip, white virgin, bald head.

description

Snowdrop species are perennial herbaceous plants . These geophytes form onions as persistent organs. Two to - rarely - three parallel- veined leaves are basal together.

Then the inflorescence is driven out with a long flower stem and only one flower. Initially, a bract surrounds the flowers and protects them from severe weather. When the conditions are favorable, the flower breaks through the vagina. Since the stem is weakly built, the flower lowers and nods.

The fragrant, hermaphrodite, radially symmetrical flower consists (as is usual with monocots ) of three-fold petal circles. The inflorescence consists of three white free outer bracts and three overgrown greenish-white inner bracts. The three inner bracts are much smaller than the three outer ones and are usually colored green. They are the characteristic of this genus. Two by three pointed cone-shaped stamens are close together. Three carpels are one under constant ovary fused with a white punch and a capitate scar. The pollination is done by insects .

Flower formula : ${\displaystyle \star \;P_{3+3}\;A_{3+3}\;G_{\overline {(3)}}}$

There are fruit capsules formed containing 18 to 36 seeds. A large, fleshy nutrient body ( elaiosome ) has grown on the light brown seeds , 3.5 mm in diameter . Since the stalk falls limply to the ground after fruit formation, ants ( myrmecochoria ) can get to the seeds. They have a predilection for the nutrient body attached to the seed and therefore carry the seeds to their structure. On the way, they often eat up the nutrient body and leave the actual seeds unattended. In this way, they contribute to the wide spread of the snowdrop.

The flowering period of the wild species extends from October ( Queen Olga Snowdrop and Galanthus peshmenii ) to the end of spring ( Little Snowdrop ); some of the cultivated species bloom until April.

All wild species have been under species protection since 1973 (CITES, Washington Convention on the Protection of Species ).

Daughter onions also contribute to the reproduction of the plants , so that dense clumps often form. These can be divided after flowering while the plants are still green.

Occurrence

The home of the species is Europe and Southwest Asia, from Asia Minor , across the Caucasus to the region around the Caspian Sea . In Turkey alone, 12 of the accepted species are native, in Georgia and southern Russia 7 each and in Greece 5 species. For example in North America, plants from culture are feral and neophytes. In England, snowdrops outside the gardens are only recorded from 1770. They presumably overgrown from monastery gardens.

They occur in forest meadows, floodplains and deciduous forests and prefer moist and shady locations. They are often seen as the first heralds of spring and are therefore often planted in green spaces and gardens . In phenology , the first bloom means the beginning of early spring .

and display information about the image

Distribution of 19 species of snowdrop (Galanthus) in Europe and the Middle East. Natural distribution according to Davis and IUCN Red List
Meaning of the area margins: Lines - narrow leaves (dashed - matt leaves; solid - glossy leaves); Symbols - wide sheets (o - glossy and <> - matte)

Types and classification

There are about 20 species in the genus Snowdrop ( Galanthus ). The species most commonly used as ornamental plants are, in addition to the small snowdrop, also the Elwes snowdrop or giant snowdrop with wide dull green leaves and the Voronov snowdrop with wide glossy leaves. Since breeds and hybrids are often also planted, it is not always possible to reliably identify the species. An illustrated identification key can be found in the web links to identify the species of some species.

The following compilation of the Galanthus species gives the name and the year of the first description, if possible a picture or a link, the distribution area, the flowering months at the natural site and some characteristic features of the species. A profile shows six characteristics of the 20 wild species. Sketched on the left is the shape of the leaf shoot from the onion, in the middle the shape and position of the green markings on the inner petals and below the shape of the leaves. The leaves are briefly characterized on the right. M and G stand for matt and glossy respectively, and the two numerical values ​​are the maximum width and maximum length of the leaves in cm. Due to the natural variability of the appearance of the plants within a species due to genetic factors and growth conditions, this profile is not suitable for an unequivocal determination, but serves as a first reference point for species determination. In many cases, however, it can help to identify a species. A detailed description of all species according to Davis can be found in.

Surname	Common name	flowering time	image	Characteristics	distribution	Special features
Galanthus alpinus Sosn.	Caucasus snowdrops	2 - 5			Northeast Turkey to the Caucasus	dull green leaves (rolled)
Galanthus angustifolius Koss	Narrow-leaved snowdrop	3 - 5			North Caucasus	narrow leaves
Galanthus bursanus Dimitri A. Zubov, Yıldiz Konca, Aaron P. Davis		10 - 1	Fig. In the web link		Western Turkey	Autumn bloomers, slightly folded leaves
Galanthus cilicicus Baker	Cilician snowdrop	11 - 1			Central and South Anatolia	Autumn bloomers
Galanthus elwesii Hook. f.	Elwes snowdrops, giant snowdrops, Turkish snowdrops	2 - 5			Balkan Peninsula, southwestern Ukraine, Turkey	dull green broad leaves (rolled)
Galanthus fosteri Baker	Foster snowdrops	1 - 3 (4)	,		Central Anatolia, Syria to Jordan
Galanthus gracilis Čelak.	Dainty snowdrop	2 - 5			Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, southwestern Ukraine, western Anatolia	narrow leaves
Galanthus ikariae Baker	Ikaria snowdrops	2 - 3			the Aegean islands Skyros, Andros, Naxos and Ikaria
Galanthus koenenianus Lobin, CDBrickell & APDavis	Koenen snowdrops	2 - 3			Northeast Anatolia
Galanthus krasnovii Khokhr.	Krasnov snowdrops	3 - 5			Northeast Anatolia to West Transcaucasia	more than 30 mm wide sheets (rolled)
Galanthus lagodechianus Kem.-Nath.	Lagodechi snowdrops	(2) 3 - 4			<Caucasus and Transcaucasia
Galanthus nivalis L.	Small snowdrop or common snowdrop	2 - 3 (4)			Europe from the Pyrenees to Ukraine	narrow mostly dull green leaves, (flat against each other)
Galanthus panjutinii Zubov & APDavis		3			The species was first described in 2012 from western Transcaucasia.
Galanthus peshmenii A.P. Davis & CDBrickell	Peshmen snowdrops	10-11			Southwest Anatolia and the island of Megisti, which belongs to Greece	Autumn bloomers
Galanthus platyphyllus Traub & Moldenke	Broad-leaved snowdrop	5 - 6 (7)			Homeland: West and Central Caucasus	very broad leaves
Galanthus plicatus M.Bieb.	Clusius snowdrops or leaflet snowdrops	2 - 4			Romania, Crimea, Ukraine, North Anatolia, Northwest Caucasus	shiny "folded" leaves
Galanthus reginae-olgae Orph.	Queen Olga snowdrops, autumn snowdrops	10 - 12 + 12 - 3			Northwest Sicily, northwest and western Balkan Peninsula	Leaves (flat against each other) with whitish central stripes; Autumn bloomers
Galanthus rizehensis star	Lake Riza snowdrops	1 - 3 (4)			northeastern Anatolia and western Caucasus
Galanthus samothracicus Kit Tan & Biel		1 - 2			The species was first described in 2013 from the North Aegean island of Samothrace.
Galanthus transcaucasicus Fomin	Caspian Snowdrop or Transcaucasian Snowdrop	12-4			Southern and Eastern Transcaucasia and Northern Iran
Galanthus trojanus A.P. Davis & Özhatay		3			Western Turkey
Galanthus woronowii Losinsk.	Voronov snowdrops	1 - 4			Western and central Caucasus and northeastern Anatolia	shiny broad leaves (rolled)

Web links to images:

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} Pictures of Galanthus species on Plantarium.ru (Latin + Russian)
2. ↑ Pictures by G. fosteri on "revolution-snowdrops.co.uk" (in Engl.)
3. ↑ Pictures by G. samothracicus on "revolution-snowdrops.co.uk" (in Engl.)

The three different forms of leaf shoots from the onion: flat (applanate), folded (explicative) rolled up (convolute) v. l. No.

A morphological classification according to Stern (1956), uses the arrangement of the leaves in the bulb as a distinguishing feature (recognizable when budding from the bulb or in cross section). Other distinguishing features are e.g. B. the type and shape of the characteristic green markings on the inner petals or the color and shape of the leaves. Stern divided the genre into three sections:

• Section Nivales (Beck) flat leaves
• Section Plicati (Beck) folded sheets
• Section Latifolii (Beck) rolled leaves

The work of Artjushenko (1965, 1966, 1970) led to a largely accepted classification of snowdrop species. After detailed studies, the author made use of new distinguishing features of plant anatomy. Among other things, the size of the trachea in the leaf cross-section or the shape of the cells in the leaf epidermis. She combined these features with the known morphological features. A division into two groups was proposed: 1) species from Europe and Asia Minor and 2) species from the Caucasus. By using the position of the leaves when budding from the onion as a further characteristic, a total of 5 groups were divided.

group	Shape of the epidermal cells	Cavities in the leaves	Leaf position	Occurrence	Surname
I.	rectangular	no	rolled	Caucasus and Ikaria Island (Aegean Sea)	G. ikariae (including G. woronowii) G. krasnovii G. platyphyllus
		Yes		Caucasus	G. alpinus G. bortkewitschianus G. caucasicus
		big	flat	Caucasus and Asia Minor	G. lagodechimus G. transcacasicus (including G. rhizehsensis)
II	tapering to a point	big	flat	Europe and Asia Minor	G. corcyrensis G. nivalis G. reginae-olgae
	sharply narrowed at the edge		folded		G. plicatus G. byzantinus

Another division into the two sections Galanthus and Viridifolii Kem. Nath. was mainly based on the shape of the epidermal cells and the area of ​​distribution. The leaf color is a distinguishing feature here.

Section 1 GALANTHUS	Section 2 VIRIDIFOLII Kern.-Nath.
Leaves gray-green, the epidermis of the leaves consists of elongated cells that are tapered towards the edge, found in Central and Southern Europe and in NW Asia Minor.	Leaves gray-green or green (glossy, matt or dull), the epidermis of the leaves consists of rectangular cells, found in the Caucasus and Asia Minor (excluding the NW - the exception is G. ikariae)
1a G. nivalis L. subsp. Nivalis 1b G. nivalis subsp. anpshilius (Koss) Artjush. 2 G. reginae-olgae Orph. 3 G. corcyrensis (Beck) Stern 4 G. gracilis Orph. ex Boiss. § 5 G. elwesii Hook.f. § 6 G. plicatus M.Bieb. 7 G. byzantinus beacon	8 G. caucasicus (Baker) Grossh. 9 G. alpinus Sosn. 10 G. bortkewitshianus Koss 11 G. ikariae Baker    (incl. G.woronowii Losinsk. , In syn.) 12 G. platyphyllus Traub & Moldenke 13 G. krasnovii APKhokhr. 14 G. fosteri Baker § 15 G. transcaucasicus Fomin    (incl. G. rizehenis Stern , in syn.) 16 G. cilicicus Baker §§ 17 G. lagodechianus Kern.-Nath.

Classification of Galanthus according to Artjuschenko 1966 and 1970 (§ + §§ species were added in the ref.)

Cladogram of the evolutionary development of the genus Galanthus according to Ronsted et al.

Galanthus     Platyphyllus  G. krasnovii     G. platyphyllus     G. panjutinii       Trojanus  G. trojanus        Ikariea   G. ikariae    Elwesii   G. cilicicus     G. elwesii     G. gracilis     G. peshmenii        Nivalis   G. nivalis     G. plicatus     G. reginae-olgae       Voronovii   G. fosteri     G. lagodechianus     G. rizehensis     G. woronowii  Alpinus   G. × allenii     G. angustifolius     G. alpinus     G. koenenianus     G. transcaucasicus

Kladogram of the evolutionary development of the genus Galanthus according to Ronsted et al. (2013).

breeding

Galanthus nivalis with double flower (flore plena)

More intensive breeding began after the Crimean War (1853-1856), when soldiers from the Crimean peninsula brought onions of Galanthus plicatus from their homeland, which in the gardens in England crossed with the native Galanthus nivalis and the Turkish Galanthus elwesii . While only a few varieties were known for decades, the variety of varieties has become almost confusing thanks to the work of successful breeders. Currently, around 800 varieties (including 500 registered) of snowdrops are known that have emerged from several species. The main aim of breeding and selection is the shape and size of the flower and the duration of the flower. Some varieties have double flowers or special patterns or drawings on the inner or outer petals. Another specialty are flowers that do not contain any leaf green and therefore appear white-yellow. A common method of propagation by z. B. To multiply sterile varieties is twin scaling , dividing the onion in a dormant state. Here, the onion is "irritated" down to the bottom of the onion with many cuts or completely cut into about 10 parts in order to stimulate the formation of new secondary onions.

Medicinal properties and toxicity

Galantamine is used as a remedy for dementia and to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease .

All parts of the plant, especially the bulb, contain poisonous alkaloids . The amaryllidaceae alkaloid is predominantly found in the onion, while other parts of the plant contain tazettine , galantamine and lycorine . A critical dose is not known.

Possible symptoms of intoxication: There is increased salivation, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Occasionally, circulatory disorders with sweating and drowsiness are observed.

Thermogenesis

Some plants have the ability to generate enough heat from their own metabolism to heat parts of plants significantly above the ambient temperature. The snowdrop is also often ascribed the ability to generate enough heat in the bulb to melt its way through the snow.

In fact, there is no scientific evidence of thermogenesis in the snowdrop. Instead, it seems likely that the melting of the surrounding snow is based on the absorption of solar radiation and its conversion into thermal energy, as can often also happen with inanimate matter.

literature

• Aaron P. Davis: The Genus Galanthus. A Botanical Magazine Monograph. Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew 1999, ISBN 0-88192-431-8 .
• Gerald B. Straley, Frederick H. Utech: Galanthus. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee (Ed.): Flora of North America North of Mexico . Volume 26: Magnoliophyta: Liliidae: Liliales and Orchidales . Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford a. a. 2002, ISBN 0-19-515208-5 , pp. 280 (English, online ).
• Hanneke van Dijk, Gert-Jan van der Kolk: Snowdrops. About flowers, gallantophiles and other things (translated by Mechthild Ragg). Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-7843-3314-1 .
• Heinz-Dieter Krausch : Kaiserkron and red peonies ... Discovery and introduction of our garden flowers. Dölling and Galitz, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-935549-23-7 .
• Clemens Heidger, Josh Westrich, Veronica Cross: For Galanthophiles: Presentation of 50 garden-worthy snowdrops. Edition Art & Nature, ISBN 978-3-00-034969-0 .
• Maria Mail-Brandt: Snowdrop ABC Galanthus - Snowdrops - Sneeuwklokjes - Perce-Neiges - game species and over 800 varieties. BOD, Norderstedt ISBN 978-3-7347-0977-7 .
• Enno Logemann: Galanthus nivalis - not just a herald of spring. In: Toxichem Krimtech Volume 83, II, 2016, pp. 121–125 ( PDF ).
• Günter Waldorf: Snowdrops: Magic in White - Over three hundred varieties in a photo portrait. DVA, Munich, ISBN 978-3-421-04020-6 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thomas Richter: The snowdrop between Mary symbolism and modern indication. In: Tempora mutantur et nos? Festschrift for Walter M. Brod on his 95th birthday. With contributions from friends, companions and contemporaries. Edited by Andreas Mettenleiter , Akamedon, Pfaffenhofen 2007, ISBN 3-940072-01-X , pp. 359–362, here: pp. 359 f.
2. ↑ A sea of ​​flowers: multiplying snowdrops. In: ndr.de
3. ↑ Katherine Swift: The Morville Year. Bloomsbury, London 2011, ISBN 978-1-4088-1109-2 , p. 262, limited preview in Google book search.
4. ↑ Aaron P. Davis: The Genus Galanthus. A Botanical Magazine Monograph. Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew 1999, ISBN 0-88192-431-8 .
5. ↑ IUCN 2020. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2019-3. < https://www.iucnredlist.org >, ISSN 2307-8235 [1]
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Galanthus. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved July 27, 2018.
7. ↑ Blumeninschwaben.de
8. ↑ ^{a b} "citesbulbs.myspecies.info" - Description of all Galanthus species (in English) [2]
9. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p} Eckehart J. Jäger, Friedrich Ebel, Peter Hanelt, Gerd K. Müller (eds.): Exkursionsflora von Deutschland . Founded by Werner Rothmaler. tape 5 : Herbaceous ornamental and useful plants . Springer, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg 2008, ISBN 978-3-8274-0918-8 , pp. 760-764 .
10. ↑ ^{a b} Dimitri A. Zubov, Yıldiz Konca, Aaron P. Davis: Galanthus bursanus (Amaryllidaceae): a new species of snowdrop from the Marmara Sea region, NW Turkey. In: Kew Bulletin Volume 74, 2019, ( doi : 10.1007 / s12225-019-9806-5 ).
11. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Walter Erhardt, Erich Götz, Nils Bödeker, Siegmund Seybold: The great pikeperch. Encyclopedia of Plant Names. Volume 2: Types and Varieties. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2008, ISBN 978-3-8001-5406-7 , p. 1426.
12. ↑ galanthomanie.de
13. ↑ Dmitriy A. Zubov, Aaron P. Davis: Galanthus panjutinii sp. nov .: a new name for an invalidly published species of Galanthus (Amaryllidaceae) from the northern Colchis area of ​​Western Transcaucasia. In: Phytotaxa. Volume 50, 2012, pp. 55-63, ( PDF ).
14. ↑ Aaron P. Davis, Neriman Özhatay: Galanthus trojanus: a new species of Galanthus (Amaryllidaceae) from north-eastern Turkey. In: Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. Volume 137, No. 4, 2001, pp. 409-412, doi: 10.1006 / bojl.2001.0480 .
15. ^ ^{A b} Frederick Claude Stern: Snowdrops and Snowflakes - a study of the genera “Galanthus” and “Leucojum”. Royal Horticultural Society 1956 ( books.google.com ).
16. ↑ ZT Artjushenko: A contribution to the taxonomy of the genus "Galanthus". In: Botanicheskii Zhurnal (Moscow & Leningrad). 50, No. 10, 1965, pp. 1430-1447.
17. ↑ ^{a b} ZT Artjushenko: A Critical review of the genus "Galanthus". In: Botanicheskii Zhurnal (Moscow & Leningrad). 51, No. 10, 1966, pp. 1437-1451.
18. ↑ ^{a b} ZT Artjushenko: Amarylldaceae J. St.-Hil. Akademii Nauk SSSR. Botanicheskii Institute, Leningrad 1970.
19. ↑ P. von Gottlieb-Tannenhain: Studies on the forms of the genus "Galanthus". In: Treatises of the Imperial-Royal Zoological-Botanical Society in Vienna. 2, No. 4, 1904, p. 29.
20. ↑ AP Davis, JR Barnett: The leaf anatomy of the genus Galanthus L. (Arnaryllidaceae J. St.-Hil.) In: Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 123, 1997, pp. 333-352.
21. ↑ ^{a b} Nina Rønsted, Dimitri Zubov, Sam Bruun-Lund, Aaron P. Davis: Snowdrops falling slowly into place: An improved phylogeny for “Galanthus” (Amaryllidaceae). In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. Volume 69, No. 1, October 2013, pp. 205-217, doi: 10.1016 / j.ympev.2013.05.019 .
22. ↑ galanthus-online.de
23. ↑ galanthomanie.de
24. ↑ galanthus.co.uk ( Memento of the original from February 27, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
25. ↑ judyssnowdrops.co.uk
26. ↑ Enno Logemann: Galanthus nivalis - Not just a herald of spring. In: Toxichem Krimtech 2016; 83 (2): 121. Society for Toxicological and Forensic Chemistry (GTFCh), March 4, 2016, accessed on February 13, 2020 . 

Web links

Commons : Snowdrops ( Galanthus )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• The snowdrops ( Galanthus nivalis ) as a poisonous plant at giftpflanze.com .
• Interesting facts about snowdrops, descriptions of varieties
• General information about snowdrops
• Interesting facts about the Botanical Garden of the Ruhr University Bochum ( Memento from December 11, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
• Galanthus on the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
• Identification key - Blumeninschwaben.de