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Galanthus nivalis


Galanthus nivalis
Photo Information
Copyright: Luciano Gollini (lousat) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 6595 W: 89 N: 15659] (65489)
Genre: Plants
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2018-03-09
Categories: Flowers
Camera: Sony Cybershot DSC HX200V
Exposure: f/6.3, 1/200 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Map: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2018-03-16 15:09
Viewed: 764
Points: 13
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
A very common species in Europe, but very rare in my area. I met these snowdrops for the first time, as opposed to the little bells I recently posted that are really abundant. Welcome spring.

Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Amaryllidaceae
Tribe: Galantheae
Genus: Galanthus nivalis

Often referred to as the common snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis is the best-known and most widespread representative of a small genus of about 20 species in the family Amaryllidaceae. Snowdrops are among the first bulbs to bloom in spring and can form impressive carpets of white in areas where they are native or have been naturalised.
They should not be confused with snowflakes (which are species of Leucojum and Acis.)
The generic name Galanthus, from the Greek gala (milk) and anthos (flower), was given to the genus by Carl Linnaeus in 1735. He described Galanthus nivalis in his Species Plantarum published in 1753. The epithet "nivalis" means "of the snow", referring either to the snow-like flower or the plant's early flowering.
The common name snowdrop first appeared in the 1633 edition of John Gerard's Great Herbal (in the first edition (1597) he described it as the "Timely flowring Bulbus violet"). The derivation of the name is uncertain, although it may have come from the German word Schneetropfen, which was a type of earring popular around that time.Other British traditional common names include "February fairmaids", "dingle-dangle", "Candlemas bells", "Mary's tapers"and, in parts of Yorkshire,"snow piercers" (like the French name perce-neige).
Galanthus nivalis is widely grown in gardens, particularly in northern Europe, and is widely naturalised in woodlands in the regions where it is grown. It is, however, native to a large area of Europe, from Spain in the west, eastwards to the Ukraine. It is found in Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the former Yugoslavia.
Although often thought of as a British native wild flower, or to have been brought to the British Isles by the Romans, it is now thought that it was probably introduced much later, perhaps around the early sixteenth century.
Galanthus nivalis grows to around 7-15 cm tall, flowering between January and April in the northern temperate zone (January-May in the wild).They are perennial, herbaceous plants which grow from bulbs. Each bulb generally produces two linear, or very narrowly lanceolate, greyish-green leaves and an erect, leafless scape (flowering stalk), which bears at the top a pair of bract-like spathe valves joined by a papery membrane. From between them emerges a solitary, pendulous, bell-shaped white flower, held on a slender pedicel.
The flower consists of six tepals, also referred to as segments. The outer three are larger and more convex than the inner ones. The inner flower segments are usually marked on their outer surface with a green, or greenish-yellow, V or U-shaped mark (sometimes described as "bridge-shaped") over the small "sinus" (notch) at the tip of each tepal. The inner surface has a faint green mark covering all or most of it. Occasionally plants are found with green markings on the outer surface of the outer tepals.
The six long, pointed anthers open by pores or short slits. The ovary is three-celled, ripening into a three-celled capsule. Each whitish seed has a small, fleshy tail (the elaiosome) containing substances attractive to ants which distribute the seeds. The leaves die back a few weeks after the flowers have faded.
mamcg, peter_stoeckl has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • mamcg Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 333 W: 13 N: 91] (9843)
  • [2018-03-16 18:05]

It's something that we just heard about, beautiful click.

  • Great 
  • anel Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 3053 W: 3 N: 8715] (40574)
  • [2018-03-17 11:05]

Bonsoir Luciano,
Voilà une image qui porte ta signature..j'aime beaucoup ces gros plans avec cette perspective particulière. Chez nous les perce- neige sont très abondantes.
Bonne soirée
anne

Hi Luciano,
Very nice composition, interesting shot with the main subject being in shadow, and the background's sunny. Spectacular shallow DoF as well, but what sells the pic is the unusual, interesting composition with the snowdrop petals forming two, semi-diagonal lights. Lovely!
Kind regards from Ireland, László

Hello 👋 Luciano,
I like this Snowdrop flower due to its structure ☺ and I have seen a few good photos here on TN.
Exposure on white petals look good. But personally I don't like such backgrounds where main flowers petals touches other out of focus flowers in the background. It could have been a better choice if you have chosen a flower where you could take a picture lying on the ground. In such way your background would have been more effective than this one. In other way, if you would like to show those Snowdrop flowers in the background, try to make an angle where there will not be any flowers touching main flower ☺
Thanks for sharing your work with us 😊
Regards and have a nice week further ☺
Srikumar

hallo Luciano very nice picture to show us the pringtime
good details and lovely colours
thanks gr lou

Buongiorno Luciano,
powerful presentation of this group of fresh snowbells. Very closely approached, you are bringing out the blossom in front monumentally large. Wideangle settings are showing also a good part of the rest of the group, and they are also allowing a good impression of the landscape around. I like the well considered composition, and the pleasantly cheerful appearance of your image.
Thank you! With best regards,
Peter

Ciao Luciano, bello ed elegante, macro al solito di gran qualità, perfetta messa a fuoco, ottima nitidezza, bei colori naturali e splendida luce, bravissimo, ciao Silvio

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