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,
Luzula nivalis ("to shine, sparkle") or the Latin "luzulae" or "luxulae", from "lux" ("light"), inspired by the way the plant's hairs sparkle when wet with dew. "Nivalis" is Latin for snowy, snow-covered or snow-like. The exact taxonomy of "Luzula nivalis" is a little confusing due to confusions over the naming of the taxon; the name "L. arctica" has frequently (though less occasionally in recent years) been applied this taxon, or it has been regarded as a separate species altogether. Elven et al. (2003) stated that "a number of authors (Hultén 1968, Böcher et al. 1968, Porsild and Cody 1980, Novikov 1990) have