The very first flowers after winter. The name comes from the Greek words 'leucos' - milk, white and 'ion' - violet, and indicates the coloration of flowers; originally it was called 'leucocion' - a white violet.
Motherland - Middle Europe, the Mediterranean, Turkey, Iran. The genus combines about 10 species of herbaceous perennial bulbous plants up to 40 cm tall, flowering in spring, summer or autumn. Leaves are linear, belt-like (2-4), appearing often simultaneously with flowers. Flowers are single or in small-flowered umbellate inflorescences, drooping, broad-pointed, up to 3 cm long, white or pink with a green or yellow spot near the top of the petals. Fruit is a fleshy capsule. Seeds oblong or rounded sometimes with a fleshy appendage, black or light brown. Bulbs ovoid, 3-5 cm high and 2-4 cm across, covered with brown or greenish scales. The best time for buying and planting bulbs is July-September, when the plants are at rest. With a long and warm autumn, the time allowed for planting is stretched to the beginning of November.
