''Leucojum vernum'', called the spring snowflake, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Amaryllidaceae The Amaryllidaceae are a family of herbaceous, mainly perennial and bulbous (rarely rhizomatous) flowering plants in the monocot order Asparagales. The family takes its name from the genus ''Amaryllis'' and is commonly known as the amaryllis fa ...

. It is native to central and southern Europe from

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. It is considered naturalized in north-western Europe, including

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and parts of Scandinavia, and in the US states of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. This spring flowering

bulb In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...

ous

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

is cultivated as an ornamental for a sunny position. The plant multiplies in favourable conditions to form clumps. Each plant bears a single white flower with greenish marks near the tip of the

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

, on a stem about tall, occasionally more. The Latin

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''vernum'' means "relating to Spring". Its close relative, ''

Leucojum aestivum ''Leucojum aestivum'', commonly called summer snowflake or Loddon lily (see ), is a plant species widely cultivated as an ornamental. It is native to most of Europe from Spain and Ireland to Ukraine, with the exception of Scandinavia, Russia, Bel ...

'', flowers in summer.

Description

''Leucojum vernum'' is tall in flower. Its leaves, which appear at the same time as the flowers and continue to elongate during flowering, are 5–25 mm wide and long, generally reaching to below the level of the flowers. The flowering stem ( scape) has a small central cavity and two narrow wings. The pendant flowers appear in spring and are usually solitary, rarely in an

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

of two. The flowers have six white

s, each with a greenish or yellowish mark just below the tip. Each tepal is 15–25 mm long. The whitish seeds are about 7 mm long. File:02014 Leucojum vernum.JPG, At the start of flowering File:Leucojum vernum in nature reserve Arba (04).jpg, Typical form with green marks on the tepals File:Landschaftsschutzgebiet Bodensteiner Klippen und Klein Rhüdener Holz - An der Beffer - Märzenbecher (2).jpg, Flower with yellow rather than green marks File:Bledule jarní v PR Králova zahrada 25.jpg, In habitat in damp forest in the Králova Zahrada Nature Reserve, Czech Republic File:Behrenhoff Park Märzenbecher.JPG, Naturalized in a park

Taxonomy

''Leucojum vernum'' was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in 1753. The epithet ''vernum'' means "of the spring".

Varieties

Two varieties are accepted by the

World Checklist of Selected Plant Families The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (usually abbreviated to WCSP) is an "international collaborative programme that provides the latest peer reviewed and published opinions on the accepted scientific names and synonyms of selected plan ...

: *''Leucojum vernum'' var. ''carpathicum'' Sweet –

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...

(Czech Republic, Romania, Ukraine) *''Leucojum vernum'' var. ''vernum'' A third variety is recognized by some sources, but not by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: *''Leucojum vernum'' var. ''vagneri'' Stapf ''Leucojum vernum'' var. ''carpathicum'' is distinguished by the presence of yellow rather than greenish markings at the tip of each tepal. Sources that distinguish var. ''vagneri'' from var. ''vernum'' describe it as more vigorous and flowering earlier, with two flowers per scape. It comes true from seed as it does not cross with var. ''vernum''.

Distribution and habitat

''Leucojum vernum'' is native to central Europe and parts of southern and western Europe, including Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland, France, Italy, Romania, former Yugoslavia and Ukraine. It has become naturalized in other parts of Europe, including

, the Netherlands and parts of

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

, and in

and

in the United States. It is found in damp and shady habitats, including woods, up to elevations of 1600 m.

Cultivation

''Leucojum vernum'' is cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

for its white flowers in spring. It is described as "easy to grow", either in sun or partial shade, particularly in moist soil and in grass. The species has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

Cultivars

Many

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

s are available, including: *'Butter-churn' (''L. vernum'') – large yellowish flowers, one or two per stem, sometimes two fused together *'Eva Habermeier' (''L. vernum'') – yellow apical marks *'Gertrude Wister' (''L. v.'' var. ''carpathicum'') – semi-double *'Golden Bell' (''L. v.'' var. ''carpathicum'') – yellow ovary and tepal markings *'Green Lantern' (''L. v.'' var. ''vernum'') – vigorous, tepals about one-third green with a sharp apex *'Greengotts' (''L. v.'' var. ''vagneri'') – second earliest to flower, large apical green markings *'Hoch die Tassen' (''L. v.'' var. ''vernum'') – flowers face upwards ( means 'raise your glasses') *'Janus' (''L. v.'' var. ''vagneri'') – flowers early, in the first week of January *'Klara' (''L. v.'' var. ''carpathicum'') – smaller stature, open, funnel-like flowers *'Lothar' (''L. vernum'') – long pedicels, up to three flowers per bulb *'Milly' (''L. v.'' var. ''vernum'') – one to six extra long, narrow, completely green tepals; comes true from seed *'Null Punkte' (''L. v.'' var. ''vernum'') – markings small or absent *'Podpolozje' (''L. v.'' var. ''carpathicum'') – large flowers with a large apical mark, mostly two flowers per stem *'Tentacular' (''L. vernum'') – double, green markings

Toxicity

All species of ''

Leucojum ''Leucojum'' is a small genus of bulbous plants native to Eurasia belonging to the Amaryllis family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. As currently circumscribed, the genus includes only two known species, most former species having been moved into th ...

'' are poisonous, as the leaves and bulbs contain the toxic

alkaloid Alkaloids are a class of basic, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Some synthetic compounds of similar ...

lycorine Lycorine is a toxic crystalline alkaloid found in various Amaryllidaceae species, such as the cultivated bush lily (''Clivia miniata''), surprise lilies ('' Lycoris''), and daffodils ('' Narcissus''). It may be highly poisonous, or even lethal, wh ...

and

galantamine Galantamine is used for the treatment of cognitive decline in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease and various other memory impairments. It is an alkaloid that has been isolated from the bulbs and flowers of ''Galanthus nivalis'' (Common snowdro ...

. Galantamine is used for the treatment of

cognitive decline Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affec ...

in mild to moderate

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

and various other

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

impairments.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q161530 Amaryllidoideae Flora of Central Europe Flora of France Flora of Southeastern Europe Flora of Ukraine Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Garden plants of Europe