Galanthus open during snowdrop season for the National Gardens Scheme (NGS) and in Scotland for Scotland's Gardens. Colesbourne Park in Gloucestershire is one of the best known of the English snowdrop gardens, being the home of Henry John Elwes, a collector of Galanthus specimens, and after whom "Galanthus elwesii" is named. Numerous single- and double-flowered cultivars of "Galanthus nivalis" are known, and also of several other "Galanthus" species, particularly "G. plicatus" and "G. elwesii". Also, many hybrids between these and other species exist (more than 500 cultivars are described in Bishop, Davis, and Grimshaw's book, plus lists of many cultivars that
Luzula nivalis is the species's basionym and was used before "L. arctica". "Luzula nivalis" is a relatively small perennial herbaceous plant (or "herb") which grows to heights of between in a caespitose fashion. "L. nivalis "has fibrous roots and ascending rhizomes, older plants have vertical stems either at ground level or underground; the plant base is straw-brown/pale castaneous brown in colour. The plant is subglabrous with erect, aerial stems and numerous alternate basal leaves. These crowded leaves are marcescent, flat, remain for many years, usually up to long and wide." L. nivalis" also has 1–2 cauline leaves which are long; both leaf