Snowdrops: tiny flowers with mighty medicinal powers & lovely stories. You can see carpets of snowdrops at Constable Burton Hall - Gardens, Kiplin Hall, Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal, National Trust, Jervaulx Abbey and in many gardens and churchyards now - it's a good year for them. Sometimes known as "Fair maids of February" or "Candlemas Bells", they were once brought into churches to mark Candlemas on 2nd February, as a sign of purity and new beginnings - perhaps this is why there are so many in churchyards?
I think of them as bright, brave little flowers, especially when they pierce-through the snow (the French call them 'snow-pierces'): they're very hardy, originating in mountainous regions and cultivated here since 1598 (wonder who by?). Snowdrops are associated with hope, strength and new beginnings. They feature in bible stories with Adam and Eve, and Homer wrote that Odysseus cleared his mind of bewitchment using snowdrop milk.
A Bulgarian pharmacologist noticed people in a remote area wiping snowdrops on their heads, which eventually led to the use of snowdrop bulbs in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease in over 70 countries!