Galanthus name for the feast day. The French name of "Violette de la Chandaleur" refers to Candlemas, while an Italian name, "Fiore della purificazone", refers to purification. The German name of "" (Little snow bells) also invokes the symbol of bells. In the Language of flowers, the "Snowdrop" is synonymous with 'Hope', as it blooms in early springtime, just before the vernal equinox, and so is seen as 'heralding' the new spring and new year. Galanthus Galanthus (snowdrop; Greek "gála" "milk", "ánthos" "flower") is a small genus of about 20 species of bulbous perennial herbaceous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae. The
Luzula nivalis Luzula nivalis Luzula nivalis, commonly known as arctic wood-rush or less commonly as snowy wood-rush (both names are used with or without hyphenation), is a species of perennial rushes endemic to Canada, Greenland, Alaska, and Northern Europe in Scandinavia. It was described by Polunin (1940) as one of the most abundant, ubiquitous, and ecologically important of all arctic plants. "Luzula nivalis" is classified under the section "Thyrsanochlamydeae" of the subgenus "Luzula". It belongs to the genus "Luzula" of the rush family Juncaceae. With regards to the etymology of the binomial: the generic name "Luzula" could come from the Italian "lucciola"