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summer snowflake
summer snowflake Summer snowflake (Leucojum aestivum).

snowflake

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Also known as: Leucojum
Written by
Melissa Petruzzello
Melissa Petruzzello is Assistant Managing Editor and covers a range of content including plants, algae, and fungi; insects and spiders; and renewable energy and environmental engineering. She has her M.S....
Melissa Petruzzello
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Article History

snowflake, (genus Leucojum), small genus of flowering plants in the amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae). Several species, including spring snowflake (Leucojum vernum) and summer snowflake (L. aestivum), are cultivated as garden flowers. The plants are closely related to snowdrops (genus Galanthus) and typically emerge from bulbs in early spring.

Snowflakes are perennial herbs with basal linear leaves. The plants bear nodding bell-shaped flowers with six white tepals (undistinguished petals and sepals) that are typically spotted with green or yellow at the tip. The fruit is a dry capsule. The plants readily naturalize in many areas and can be propagated by dividing the bulbs after the leaves die back in the summer.

Melissa Petruzzello