I noted several days ago that Snowdrops proliferate in a pocket of scrubby woodland in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. There must be thousands of them in the area known as Woodside. I speculated they were probably introduced when the wood was part of a large garden. Looking again today I feel sure that is the case because every single one I examined is a Double Snowdrop i.e. the double flowered form of the Common Snowdrop Galanthus nivalis F. pleniflorus.

 Gardeners have long had a penchant for double flowered forms of various plants. Mostly they are cultivated varieties hybridised by plant breeders. This diary is mainly concerned with wild species so I don't recall having mentioned double flowers before. They tend to look rather "frilly" because some or all of the stamens are mutated into extra petals. 

 The double flowered form of the Common Snowdrop is in fact a naturally occurring mutation and perhaps one might expect to find a few among a large colony of G. nivalis. In the case of Woodside where they are all pervading I think the likely explanation is that only Double Snowdrops were planted in the first place.

 I'm not a fan of double flowers on the whole. Many cultivars seem gaudy by comparison with the single flowered original. Flowering plants co-evolved with pollinators but if a cultivar is 'Flore piano' the flower head is generally too complicated for a pollinator to access. And the extra petals are at the expense of the anthers meaning there is little or no pollen to collect.

 I'm happy to say however that the Snowdrops at Woodside are beautiful en masse and exquisite up close. I would suggest that is because Galanthus nivalis F. pleniflorus is a natural variation. As such I would think pollinators do forage on it- I spotted yellow anthers among the frilliness. I doubt nature would evolve to negate pollination (or beauty??).