Summer snowflake

Family Amaryllidaceae. In the wild it occurs in Western Europe, the Mediterranean, Crimea, western Transcaucasia, Asia Minor and the Near East. It prefers wetter habitats: flood meadows, riverbanks.

Bulbous perennial up to 40 cm tall. Leaves up to 30 cm long, glaucous green. Scape up to 40 cm tall. Flowers 3–10 gathered into an umbel-like, nodding inflorescence. Flowers from the second half of May for about 20 days. In cultivation since 1588.

'Gravetye Giant' - a beautiful garden variety, bearing 6 flowers on shoots 50–60 cm tall. At the tips of the perianth segments there is a single straw-greenish spot. The cultivar is very tall, up to 60 cm, bred in England.

Mediterranean species of Leucojum, such as trichophyllum (Leucojum trichophyllum), longifolium (Leucojum longifolium), tingitanum (Leucojum tingitanum), are the rarest and most beautiful. And the autumn-flowering species: autumn snowflake (Leucojum autumnale) and pink snowflake (Leucojum roseum), known in Western European horticulture, are not yet cultivated in Central Russia. The autumn snowflake reaches 12 cm in height, flowers in September, the flowers are white with green spots along the margins of the tepals. It grows in nature on dry sandy or rocky soils, sometimes on coastal dunes. In cultivation such plants suffer from excessive moisture during dormancy, in summer and autumn, and need protection from rain or drying out during that period. In addition, in Russia they may be killed by frost.