Loddon-lily

Leucojum aestivum, the summer snowflake or Loddon lily, is a bulbous perennial in the Amaryllidaceae family native to wet meadows, swamps, riverbanks and ditches across most of Europe (from Ireland and Spain east to Ukraine), with extensions into Turkey, Iran and the Caucasus. From a tunicated bulb it produces strap-shaped, glossy dark green basal leaves and hollow, two-edged flowering scapes 35 to 60 centimetres tall (occasionally to 90 centimetres in the cultivar 'Gravetye Giant'). In late spring each scape bears an umbel of three to five (rarely up to eight) nodding, bell-shaped flowers with six white tepals, each tipped with a distinctive green or pale yellow spot; the flowers exude a faint chocolate-like fragrance. Three-angled capsules follow, containing seeds with elaiosomes dispersed by ants. The species has naturalised widely in temperate regions, including eastern North America and parts of Australia.