Galanthus nivalis York State, Michigan, Utah, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina). Although often thought of as a British native wild flower, or to have been brought to the British Isles by the Romans, it is now thought that it was probably introduced much later, perhaps around the early sixteenth century. "Galanthus nivalis" grows to around 7–15 cm tall, flowering between January and April in the northern temperate zone (January–May in the wild). They are perennial, herbaceous plants which grow from bulbs. Each bulb generally produces two linear, or very narrowly lanceolate, greyish-green leaves and an erect, leafless scape
Chlamydomonas nivalis become one of the most well-studied snow algae. Although its taxonomy is still being settled, the life cycle of this snow algae is now much better understood. The historical disputes about the classification and misclassification of specimens have resulted in a number of names from older publications that all mean to refer to "C. nivalis". These are: "Uredo nivalis", "Sphaerella nivalis", "Protococcus nivalis", and "Haematococcus nivalis". "C. nivalis" has been reported worldwide in mountainous regions, polar regions, or snowfields of every continent. It is the most abundant snow algae and typically composes the majority of cells identified in specimens taken