Description
This has lovely, bluish leaves (with supervolute vernation) which are initially quite narrow and shorter than the flower stem at flowering time, the leaves elongate after flowering and also become wider, eventually reflexing when fully mature. The flower stem is just 10-15cm tall and holds one white flower which has a V- or U-shaped green mark at the tip of the inners. This can be short as in some of our photographs or, in other plants, it can extended further up the centre of the inner petals or even up and across the inners, giving a largely green inner tube (see final gallery photo picture). It is, naturally, variable, a fact noted over its natural range also.
A charming, diminutive sub-alpine snowdrop from the Caucasus and Trans-Caucasus it is said to occur in the Pontus mountains of Turkey and adjacent Russia. It is also reported that it may even reach Iran. It’s wild occurrences appear to be “here and there”, in isolated colonies across its wide wild range, much of which is in little visited and poorly documented regions. It is nowhere common, but it is certainly widespread and scattered. This lack of accurate field observations and dependable data coupled with sporadic occurrences means also that there is always the risk of confusion of alpinus with other superficially similar, species.
In the wild it is reputed to grow on limey soils, such conditions are not needed in cultivation, it just needs fertility and light shade. It is very little seen or grown but this rarity probably related to a limited introduction and a slow rate of vegetative increase, rather than to any difficulty of cultivation. It does however seem to relish cold and to disdain excessive heat. With us it grows best in a shaded, cold spot in a humus-rich soil, over limestone, set apart from our other species, but our original source has said that he grows it in an acidic, peaty soil.
This originally came to us from cultivated stock originally from Leonid Bondarenko in Lithuania, this has been grown and propagated here ever since.
for UK sales ONLY NOT available for export
