Galanthus number of species are on the IUCN Red List of threatened species, with the conservation status being "G. trojanus" as critically endangered, four species vulnerable, "G. nivalis" is near threatened and several species show decreasing populations. "G. panjutinii" is considered endangered. One of its five known sites, at Sochi, was destroyed by preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics. "Galanthus" species and cultivars are extremely popular as symbols of spring and are traded more than any other wild-source ornamental bulb genus. Millions of bulbs are exported annually from Turkey and Georgia. For instance export quotas for 2016 for "G. elwesii" are
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")