Galanthus and referred to the French vernacular name, "" (Snow-pierce), based on the plants tendency to push through early spring snow (see Ecology for illustration)]. The modern family of Amaryllidaceae, in which "Galanthus" is placed, dates to Jaume Saint-Hilaire (1805) who replaced Jussieu's Narcissi with "Amaryllidées". In 1810 Brown proposed that a subgroup of Liliaceae be distinguished on the basis of the position of the ovaries and be referred to as Amaryllideae and in 1813 de Candolle separated them by describing Liliacées and Amaryllidées as two quite separate families. However, in his comprehensive survey of the Flora of France (Flore française,
Micranthes nivalis Micranthes nivalis Micranthes nivalis is a plant species in the saxifrage family. It is commonly called snow saxifrage or (ambiguously) "alpine saxifrage". Found on irrigated rocks or open vegetation in shaded sites, often on mountain ledges and crags with base rich substratum. This species is not very tolerant of competition and so is found in damp crevasses where it survives in small pockets. "M. nivalis" is a perennial species which has been found to set seed in Scotland but not in Cumbria where the populations are small and threatened. This species is also found in Norway, Ireland, Svalbard, northern Germany,