Wildlife
Snowdrops are perennial flowering plants native to large parts of Europe. Found in many woodlands, churchyards, parks and gardens, snowdrops are some of the first bulbs of the year to bloom.
This early flowering, which carpets the ground between January and April, is aided by hardened leaf tips that can push through frozen soil. The downside to flowering in winter is that pollinating insects are scarce, so these little drops of snow spread mainly through bulb division.
In order to see this content you need to have an up-to-date version of Flash installed and Javascript turned on.
Snowdrops and bluebells
The woodlands of Britain burst back into life as spring advances.
The woodlands of Britain burst back into life as spring advances.
Snowdrop timelapse
Snowdrops force their delicate flowers through snow and ice.
Once called snow piercers the fragile flowers of the snowdrop, protected by a green shreath, force their way through the frozen ground, snow and ice to carpet the woodlands.
The Snowdrop can be found in a number of locations including: Europe, United Kingdom, Wales. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
The following habitats are found across the Snowdrop distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Least Concern
Year assessed: 2009
Classified by: IUCN 3.1
Galanthus nivalis, the snowdrop or common snowdrop, is the best-known and most widespread of the 20 species in its genus. 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 (Leucojum and Acis.)
This entry is from Wikipedia, the user-contributed encyclopedia. If you find the content in the 'About' section factually incorrect, defamatory or highly offensive you can edit this article at Wikipedia. For more information on our use of Wikipedia please read our FAQ.
Take a trip through the natural world with our themed collections of video clips from the natural history archive.
Timelapse photography: speeding up life
Some of the most memorable sequences in natural history result from timelapse photography, an astonishing filming technique that opens our eyes to a whole new world.
BBC © 2012 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.
Oak wood
Beech wood
Parkland
Broadleaf forest
Urban
Flowering
Cold tolerant
Chemical communication
Visual communication