2012-01-08 Lower Austria, district Bruck/Leitha - Naturpark Mannersdorf/Wste (oak/hornbeam broadleaf forest, 270 msm Quadrant 8065/2).German name: SchneeglckchenVery early to (almost!) flower, due to very mild weather conditions.More typically, flowering would occur not before february, shortly after thaw; winter 2011/12 however so far brought hardly any snow worth mentioning in lower lying regions, like this one, and certainly no thaw season.If weather conditions won't change seriously next week (and it doesn't look like it, temperature should remain just above freezing for the whole week, at this altitude), I expect them to begin their flowering season as early as mid january.
Galanthus nivalis L.Snowdrop, DE: Schneeglckchen, Kleines SchneeglckchenSlo.: navadni mali zvonekDat.: March 7. 2017Lat.: 46.34398 Long.: 13.57456Code: Bot_1036/2017_DSC00236Habitat: broad leaved wood, slightly inclined mountain slope, southeast aspect, relatively warm and humid place, mostly in shade (after tree leaves develop); cretaceous clastic rock (flysh) bedrock; elevation 445 m (1.460 feet); average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 8-10 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil.Place: Bovec basin, northeast part, near First World War cemetery, East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC.Comment: Year after year I cannot resist photographing this very common but also very beautiful plant. It grows in fields of hundreds and thousands flowers here around. With its tenderness, freshness and elegant simplicity one cannot imagine a better symbol and promise of coming spring time. Its beauty seems to me a derision and revolt against the basic physical law of all material - entropy. What a surplus over bare biological functionality no matter how complex it may be! What an unreasonable abundance and richness is conveyed in these flower fields!Ref.:(1) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora fr sterreich, Liechtenstein und Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 1071.(2) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 745. (3) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 2., Haupt (2004), p 1080.