Chionodoxa luciliae Alba

Chionodoxa luciliae Alba (Chionodoxa luciliae Alba). Chionodoxa luciliae Alba is a perennial small bulbous plant that belongs to the lily family. It is a very successful plant due to its early flowering period. It is an ephemeroid. It thrives in the wild in the Mediterranean and Turkey. Its habitat is deciduous forests and mountain slopes. It is named after Lucille Boissier, the wife of the Swiss botanist Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810-1885). The genus name "chionodoxy" comes from the Greek words chion (snow) and doxa (glory).

Appearance.

This is a short plant with beautiful star-shaped flowers. You will definitely like it! It grows up to 12-20 cm in height. The flowers are single or in one-sided racemose inflorescences of 3-6 pieces. They appear in early spring, immediately after the snow melts. They are larger than their relatives (over 2.5 cm in diameter) and have six petals. Their colour is snow-white with a yellow eye in the centre. The leaves are broadly lanceolate, medium-sized (7-12 cm long), dark green in colour. They emerge in early spring from an underground bulb at the same time as the peduncle. It is collected in root rosettes of 2-3 pieces and forms neat ground clumps. The aboveground part of the plant dies in June.

Lucilia chionodoxa grows best in open sunny areas, in those that dry out the fastest after winter. It also feels good in partial shade. It is suitable for mass planting in flower beds, rock gardens, rockeries, lawns, under the crowns of trees and shrubs. It looks good in the company of dwarf tulips and other early flowering low-growing plants. For the best effect, plant the bulbs in small groups of 5-15 pieces. Flowering time is late March - April.