Galanthus reginae-olgae epithet "reginae-olgae" means 'of Queen Olga'; Olga Constantinovna of Russia was then Queen of Greece. The species (or when divided into subspecies, its autonymous subspecies) has been treated as "Galanthus nivalis" subsp. "reginae-olgae". Other regularly used synonyms include "G. olgae" and "G. corcyrensis". The name "Galanthus corcyrensis" has been particularly used for plants that flower in the autumn with the leaves rather than before them. The species has been divided into two subspecies, distinguished by the time of flowering: There is however no sharp division between these two subspecies. "Galanthus reginae-olgae" is native to Sicily and parts of the Balkans,
Luzula nivalis is the species's basionym and was used before "L. arctica". "Luzula nivalis" is a relatively small perennial herbaceous plant (or "herb") which grows to heights of between in a caespitose fashion. "L. nivalis "has fibrous roots and ascending rhizomes, older plants have vertical stems either at ground level or underground; the plant base is straw-brown/pale castaneous brown in colour. The plant is subglabrous with erect, aerial stems and numerous alternate basal leaves. These crowded leaves are marcescent, flat, remain for many years, usually up to long and wide." L. nivalis" also has 1–2 cauline leaves which are long; both leaf