Snowdrop, an early spring flower, the name being derived, according to Prior, from the German Schneetropfen, which does not refer to a drop of snow, but, so far as the drop is concerned, to the pendents or ear drops worn by ladies in the 16th and 17th centuries. The genus, galanthus (Gr. γάλα, milk, and ǎνθος, flower), belongs to the amaryllis family, and consists of three or four European species. The small bulbs throw up two or three narrow leaves and a flattened scape which bears (usually) a single fragrant flower on a slender nodding pedicel; the perianth has six separate divisions, the three inner tipped with green and shorter than the three pure-white outer ones. The common snowdrop is G. nivalis, which, though very common in England, is supposed to be naturalized there; its leaves are very narrow, and its flower stalk 3 to 6 in. high; there is a double variety; the plant blooms early, often appearing in February. The Crimean snowdrop (G. plicatus) has the same general appearance as the common, but is larger in all its parts.

The bulbs, which are small, should be planted in clumps, and bloom more satisfactorily if left undisturbed for several years. (For cultivation, see Hyacinth).

Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis).