Galanthus earlier authors had mainly relied on was shown to be highly homoplasious. A number of species, such as "G. nivalis" and "G. elwesii" demonstrated intraspecific biogeographical clades, indicating problems with speciation and there may be a need for recircumscription. These clades were assigned names, partly according to Davis' previous groupings. In this model clade Platyphyllus is sister to the rest of the genus. By contrast another study performed at the same time, using both nuclear and chloroplast DNA but limited to the 14 species found in Turkey, largely confirmed Davis' series and subseries, and with biogeographical correlation. Series "Galanthus" in
Chlamydomonas nivalis be mass produced for its astaxanthin. The snow algae itself is likely safe to eat as there is no evidence supporting that it would cause diarrhea when ingested. Chlamydomonas nivalis Chlamydomonas nivalis is a unicellular red-coloured photosynthetic green alga that is found in the snowfields of the alps and polar regions all over the world. They are one of the main algae responsible for causing the phenomenon of watermelon snow, where patches of snow appear red or pink and emit a ripe watermelon odour upon disturbance. The first account of microbial communities that form red snow was made by Aristotle.