Thin outer petalled Snowdrop

[Jack Meatcher]

I am not a galanthophile and only have four or five different (common) snowdrops in my garden. However, I was walking round the Rockery at Wisley last Sunday having heard Ian Young's excellent talk on bulbs in his garden at the Fritillaria Group Spring meeting, when I saw a snowdrop with very thin outer petals. There were several plants of this snowdrop, ie., it wasn't alone. A fellow member of the Frit Group said he'd like a specimen for breeding purposes so, to-day, I went back to Wisley to see if the Curator would let me acquire a specimen bulb for him. Unsurprisingly, the answer was a polite "No".
These snowdrops were in amongst G. elwesii var. monostictus. Does this snowdrop normally exhibit very narrow outer petals? Or were they possibly the result of random hybridising between the many varieties of snowdrop in the Rockery?
Thanks for any comments. Apologies for no photo.

Jack Meatcher

[Alan_b]

One does see the odd snowdrop with narrow outer petals but at this time of year it is more likely that the snowdrop flower was just going over, in which case it is quite common for the outer petals to curl inwards so giving the appearance of being very narrow.

One of the things one rapidly learns as a galanthophile is that unusual features of a late-season flower are almost always due to the fact that it is on the point of death and will not be reproduced the following year.

[Jack Meatcher]

Thanks Alan. Thank Goodness there's a simple explanation.

Jack