Galanthus description as "Viola alba" or "Viola bulbosa" using Pliny's translation, and comments that the plant had originated in Italy and had "taken possession" in England "many years past". The genus was formally named "Galanthus" and described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, with the single species, "Galanthus nivalis", which is the type species. Consequently, Linnaeus is granted the botanical authority. In doing so, he distinguished this genus and species from "Leucojum" ("Leucojum bulbosum trifolium minus"), a name by which it had been previously known. In 1763 Adanson began a system of arranging genera in families. Using the synonym "Acrocorion" (also spelt
Chlamydomonas nivalis optimal position in the snow for moisture content, light, and temperature. When in the immotile cyst stage, the "C. nivalis" cells must depend on the flow of meltwater to move it by chance to a favourable area. The temperatures in which this species can survive in ranges from below 0 °C to just above 20 °C. Growth is slow when temperatures are below 5 °C. At 5-15 °C the growth of "C. nivalis" cells can outperform the growth of C. reinhardtii cells. Both species grow at the same rate at 20-25 °C. The growth of "C. nivalis" is suppressed when