neil f writes
Just found this small flower growing in a corner of my garden and wondered
what it was. I'm not a gardener so have no idea - it looks like a wild
flower/weed but has very pretty little white flowers that look like a
miniature version of the ladies cap from the Dutch national costume. There
are no leaves at all and the shoots seem to start out as little maroon
coiled springs at ground level and slowly uncurl until they're about 6"
high, whereupon they produce one delicate little flower.

I've put two pics at http://www.anf.nildram.co.uk/workshop/temp/flower.html

I'm sure it's something very common but I've never noticed it before and it
would be nice to know its name. I couldn't find it in the wild flower book
I've got.

You lucky thing! It's a hardy cyclamen, probably a white form of
Cyclamen hederifolium. The flowers will produce round seed pods and the
stems will coil back up again. With luck, the seeds will germinate and
next year you'll spot tiny seedlings.

The plant grows from a corm which gets bigger each year. Once the
flowers are over, the corm will produce ivy-shaped leaves with a nice
marbled pattern, and these will clothe the ground from spring to early
summer - you can see the first leaf appearing in your second picture.

It's not a UK flower - it comes from the E Med area somewhere I think.
It's the baby cousin of the big cyclamen that are sold as house plants,
and has a delicacy that the large ones lack.
--
Kay