Galanthus plicatus 'Wandlebury Ring' ?

[jamouatt]

Came across these in a Cambridgeshire wood and was wondering if they were Galanthus plicatus 'Wandlebury Ring' ?

They were so beautiful in the sunshine, fair took my breath away. It has started me emptying my piggy-bank on a yellow Galanthus collection.

[mark smyth]

Looks more like Wendy's Gold. This is Wandlebury Ring - sorry for the poor quality

[jamouatt]

I had not noticed that that group was different to the larger clump next to it which from your photo looks like yours.

Much appreciated.

[jamouatt]

All mixed up now having just looked at a photo of Galanthus plicatus 'Bill Clarke' where the inner colouring is half height like my first posting save for the colour, 'Bill Clarke' being much more yellow. It was this half height inner coulour which I thought you were pointing out as the difference. Is there a reference work where one can look up the characteristics of the Galanthus yellows?

[Alan_b]

I am curious about the location of the wood where you found your yellow snowdrop (although it might not be a good idea to reveal it in a public forum such as this).  Were there many other Galanthus plicatus growing in your wood?  A wood full of plicatus would be quite a remarkable thing in itself, for the UK.  I live in Cambridgeshire and have never come across one.  Plicatus are quite common around churchyards, although not nearly so common as nivalis.  If you found an isolated clump of yellow snowdrops, this would probably indicate human intervention, for whatever reason.   

[mark smyth]

Here are the three for comparison

[David Nicholson]

Mark, for the benefit of the 'mildly' interested amongst us would you please point out the differences between them. To me the pictures 2 and 3 look exactly the same and only dif :-[fer from 1 in the length of the petal mark (and that could be an optical illusion)

[mark smyth]

I would say you are correct - all different but similar. From experience when Bill is performing well he can have almost a good free range egg yolk mark

[David Nicholson]

Ok you say all similar but different-but how would I tell Wendlebury Ring and Wendy apart if I wanted to buy one of them? I'm not winding you up I'm serious, I want to learn more.

[mark smyth]

Easy, one is two a penny and the other is hen's teeth

[Anthony Darby]

Mmmmm. I like Wandlebury Ring. Guess it''ll have to go on my ever-increasing wants list?

[mark smyth]

Anthony I'm top of a waiting list, I hope, so you can be top of mine

[David Nicholson]

Easy, one is two a penny and the other is hen's teeth

What, no other difference? Surely there must be or how would the expert know if he was paying top whack but getting the cheaper plant/

[Alan_b]

I think the difference between the Wandlebury yellows hits on one of the difficult issues with snowdrop nomenclature.  All three are from the same area and presumably similar genetic stock.  Each is distinct but the differences are not large, at least not to the untrained eye.  Perhaps more will turn up in due course?  Perhaps they too will be named?  But that is going down a road that leads to thousands upon thousands of named snowdrops.       

[snowdropman]

Easy, one is two a penny and the other is hen's teeth

What, no other difference? Surely there must be or how would the expert know if he was paying top whack but getting the cheaper plant/

David - your basic question is very reasonable & you are clearly touching on one of the great difficulties in the snowdrop world - it seems that, increasingly, the differences between various snowdrops are very subtle! Hopefully, Mark can go a little further than basing the difference on price.

But you also, indirectly, touch on another issue - provenance! Whatever the subtleties, being able to trace your particular snowdrop back to the original stock of that name is both very important and of great value. I always try to discover as much as I can about the origins of the snowdrops that I buy/exchange - if I can acquire the snowdrop from the breeder/finder of the snowdrop, all well and good, but if not, then I am looking for some evidence that 'it is what it says on the label'!