Galanthus nivalis Galanthus nivalis Galanthus nivalis, the snowdrop or common snowdrop, is the best-known and most widespread of the 20 species in its genus, "Galanthus". Snowdrops are among the first bulbs to bloom in spring and can form impressive carpets of white in areas where they are native or have been naturalised. They should not be confused with the snowflakes, in the genera "Leucojum" and "Acis". The generic name "Galanthus", from the Greek "gala" (milk) and "anthos" (flower), was given to the genus by Carl Linnaeus in 1735. He described "Galanthus nivalis" in his "" published in 1753. The epithet means "of
Luzula nivalis considered L. nivalis to be conspecific with L. arctica, but some of them (Hultén 1968, Böcher et al. 1968) have used the name L. arctica, while the others (Porsild and Cody 1980...) [have used] the correct name L. nivalis.". Elven et al. (2003) also noted that "L. campestris" var. "nivalis" was widely considered to be conspecific with "L. arctica." The current botanical consensus seems to be that lectotypification solves the issue and that "L. arctica" and "L. nivalis" should be regarded as the same species, with the name "L. nivalis" being chosen as this (derived from "L. campestris" var. "nivalis")