It’s snowdrop season

Everyone knows snowdrops. They are the first signs of spring. But did you know that there is an endemic species to Ikaria? Namely the Ikaria snowdrop (Galanthus ikariae). Endemic? True, as the movie “My Greek Fat Wedding” claims, of course all the words come from Greek :twisted:

Endemic comes from ancient Greek (ἔνδημος éndēmos) and means native, i.e. plants or animals that only occur in a specific, spatially clearly defined environment. By the way, in Ikaria there are a lot of island endemics because of its remoteness.

The Ikaria snowdrop was first described in 1893 by the botanist John Gilbert Baker, based on the finds of the plant collector and then British consul of Smyrna (now Izmir) Edward Whittall, as an endemic species of the eastern Aegean island of Ikaria. According to Baker, its leaves are dark green. It prefers moist, shady locations in stream gorges, on rocks and under phrygana bushes in the upper elevations of the island. The flowering period in the natural location is from February to March. It is one of the most lush snowdrops when it thrives in moist soil.

A reader gave me the idea of writing a short report about the Ikaria snowdrop. Thanks! He wrote to me: “Hello Ursula, seeing Ikaria in the snow thrilled me. We have been coming to Armenistis for 25 years and live in the Cavos Bay Hotel. When I was identifying my snowdrops, which are now blooming in our small garden, I noticed Ikaria is also the namesake for a snowdrop. I am inserting the descriptive page. Can you still find snowdrops on Ikaria today? The namesake found them there for the first time. https://www.gartendatenab.de/wiki/galanthus-ikariae See you in June , then we’re back. Greetings D. and G.”

Yes, you can still find them today, but you have to go on a hike into the hinterland. Of course you won’t find any right on the side of the road. But I have already found some in the Langada area or in the ancient oak forest of Ranti in Messaria.

As my reader writes, it is also sold as an ornamental plant in CH/DE/A. However, I have read that the plants currently traded as “Ikaria snowdrops” are often not real plants at all, but mostly belong to a similar continental species, namely the Voronov snowdrop (Galanthus woronowii).