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Brian, I could not find 'Jade Feather', there is a G. nivalis 'Jade' with green shading on the outers.
At the time when we wrote Snowdrops our understanding of the term virescent (ie shaded green) applied to a slightly broader spectrum of cultivars in terms of the markings on both whorls of segments so at the time included things like 'Cowhouse Green' and 'Greenish' and would also have been used to describe the state of greenness seen in more recent cultivars such as 'Hugh Mackenzie' and 'Wichwood' and many others. But as examples these plants have been chosen carefully as they illustrate a sort of intermediate what, these days, between I regard as true virescents on a sliding scale that exists almost as a continuum through to straight forwards 'green tips'. Back in 2001 this continuum didn't really exist as their were relatively few cultivars in which to observe it. Only with the huge influx of such cultivars with their often subtle differences in marking on both segment types has its existence become visible but only when you stand back and look at the markings of both segment types in a complete spectrum of variants within a species or even more broadly than that.These days, with our massively broader range of snowdrops with green marked outer segments, the emergent pattern means that the sensible use of the term virescent is subtly different. Alan hit the nail on the head by referencing the original clone 'Virescens' which fits perfectly with what what I think of these days as truly virescent snowdrops. There is an almost perfect relationship between entirely green inner segments, save for the margin and a slightly paler zone (though not always) almost at the base and the occurrence of outer segment markings which run from the base of the segment, however far towards the apex. This feature is not always apparent in a mature flower as in the course of the segments elongating, as they do, from the base, the chloroplasts (green cells) become less densely spaced and therefore less visible, the paler resulting green colouration, more difficult to see. To summarise, I think that the term virescent would be sensibly conserved only for use for plants with show this feature, also seen in the likes of 'Green Mile' and a good many of the superb clones Hagen has been showing. This leaves us to consider the clones which sit somewhere in the middle for which, I believe, the 'type' could be regarded as G. nivalis 'Greenish' for which we currently lack a proper term. I've tended to refer to them in talks and so on, as Part Virescent, and more recently as Intermediate greens or simply as Intermediates in the context of their greenness. In these, the inner segment markings are usually not simply confined to the inner segment apex as a straight forward V or U mark, but often cover a larger area, running to the base but critically are not solid and of a single shade of green but, to varying degrees, diffuse, like the marking in G. John Gray'. In these plants their is a strong association with outer segment markings that concentrate around the central portion of the segment, neither running to the base like a virescent, nor being confined towards the apex like a green tip. But its important to point out here that, whilst based upon what happens in nature, this sort of classification (or forming of artificial pigeon holes) also represents what usually happens. In other words there are exceptions that don't quite fit in any of this trio without a little explanation. But it does, at least achieve, a language for discussing plants with the most characters in common in context with each other.Interestingly when the gene mutation for outer segment greenness arises in species known for their predominantly apical inner segment and they produce truly virescent seedlings, the outer segment markings are always associated with an inner segment marking that runs to the base.
Not sure where to put:‘Green Brush’ G. elwesii (solid inner mark but outer mark on apex only)