James Allen (1830 – 1906), known as the "Snowdrop King," was a

nurseryman A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to a desired size. Mostly the plants concerned are for gardening, forestry, or conservation biology, rather than agriculture. They include retail nurseries, which sell to the general ...

and

galanthophile A galanthophile is an enthusiastic collector and identifier of snowdrop (''Galanthus'') species and cultivars. Term The term galanthophile was probably coined by a noted British plantsman and garden writer E. A. Bowles (1865–1954), in a lette ...

Shepton Mallet Shepton Mallet is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England, some southwest of Bath, Somerset, Bath, south of Bristol and east of Wells, Somerset, Wells. It had an estimated population of 10,810 in 2019. ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, known principally for his hybridizations of

snowdrop ''Galanthus'' (from Ancient Greek , (, "milk") + (, "flower")), or snowdrop, is a small genus of approximately 20 species of bulbous perennial herbaceous plants in the family (biology), family Amaryllidaceae. The plants have two linear leav ...

s and

anemone ''Anemone'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Plants of the genus are commonly called windflowers. They are native to the temperate and subtropical regions of all regions except Australia, New Zealand, and ...

s. He is credited with the discovery of ''Galanthus'' ×''allenii'' (1883). Allen spotted ''Galanthus'' ×''allenii'' amongst a batch of bulbs that had been imported from the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

. Originally classed as a species, this strongly scented snowdrop is now thought to be a hybrid. It is described as being "intermediate in appearance between ''G. caucasicus'' G. elwesii'' var. ''monostictus'' ">Galanthus_elwesii.html" ;"title="now ''

G. elwesii'' var. ''monostictus'' and ''Galanthus ikariae">G. ikariae''", and may be a natural Hybrid (biology)">hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

between those species.

References

;Further sources * ''Bulbs'', Roger Phillips and Martin Rix, Pan Macmillan (1989) * ''RHS Plant Finder 2008–2009'', Tony Lord (editor), Dorling Kindersley (2008)

External links

Shepton Snowdrop Festival
1830 births 1906 deaths English horticulturists People from Shepton Mallet Nurserymen {{England-scientist-stub