The modest Snowdrop, with its graceful, drooping head, grows abundantly
all spring in meadows and pastures and orchards in England and Scotland.
It is not so common in Ireland.
The flower is enclosed in a grey sheath, edged with bright green lines.
After the flower bursts out of the sheath, it droops from the end of a
slender flower-stalk. Each flower has six white petals; the three outer
petals are boat-shaped towards the tips, and there are three shorter
petals which are not curved. These straight petals have a notch cut in
the upper edge, and there is a bright green wavy stain just below this
notch.
Inside these dainty white petals are six yellow-headed stamens with
scarcely any stalks. These stamens stand on the flat round top of the
seed-vessel, and in the centre rises its short, pointed pillar.
Notice that the oval green seed-vessel is outside the circle of white
petals, at the top of the slender flower-stalk.
A single pair of leaves rise from the Snowdrop root, with the
flower-stalk between them. These leaves look like short straps with
blunt points. They are bluey green in colour, and have deep grooves
running from base to tip.