Galanthus Spanish and French Pyrenees in the west through to the Caucasus and Iran in the east, and south to Sicily, the Peloponnese and the Aegean, Turkey, Lebanon and Syria. The northern limit is uncertain because "G. nivalis" has been widely introduced and cultivated throughout Europe. "G. nivalis" and some other species valued as ornamentals have become widely naturalized in Europe, North America and other regions. "Galanthus nivalis" is the best-known and most widespread representative of the genus "Galanthus". It is native to a large area of Europe, stretching from the Pyrenees in the west, through France and Germany to Poland
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")