3 famous alpine flowers | South Tyrol Blog (2024)

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3 famous alpine flowers | South Tyrol Blog? ›

And in early summer, the alpine meadows offer a particularly colourful variety of flowers. Today it's all about the 3 most famous alpine flowers: gentian, edelweiss and alpine rose.

Edelweiss. Edelweiß is one of the most famous flowers native to the Alps and a firm favourite. It is generally found between 1,500 and 3,000 metres, but you will be lucky to see one.

Gentian, alpine rose, and edelweiss are the most famous. However, those who hike with open eyes will also find arnica, Turk's-cap lilies, and beautiful orchids such as lady's slipper and the spotted orchid.

Edelweiss. Edelweiss – the white, woolly flower that adorns the alpine mountains and the tundras; a symbol of the Alps. You may have recognised this flower through the song from the 'Sound of Music', where the lyrics are dedicated to the alpine flower.

Edelweiss is quite a special mountain flower widely used as a symbol for alpinism. Edelweiss normally grows between 1800-3000 metres altitude and in rocky limestone places. The alpine flower is a protected plant in France, Switzerland and Italy among others.

Eritrichium nanum, the arctic alpine forget-me-not or king-of-the-Alps, is a circumpolar alpine cushion plant which occurs in the North American Rocky mountains as well as the European Alps. It grows at elevations of 10,000 feet in an environment of acid rocks, snow gullies and receding glaciers.

Edelweiss. The national flower of Austria, Edelweiss flourishes in remote mountain crags and rocky limestone slopes. The flower's name translates from the German edel for 'noble' and weiß for 'white'. Its flower blossoms in a distinctive white star formation, coming into glorious bloom between July and September.

' The flower is referred to as Stella Alpina in the Italian-speaking Alps and étoile des Alpes in the French Alps, meaning 'star of the Alps. ' Edelweiß was one of several regional names for the plant and achieved wide usage during the first half of the 19th century in the context of early Alpine tourism.

Edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum) is a small, white-flowered alpine plant that is native to mountainous European locations including the Pyrenees, Alps and Carpathians. It is part of the large daisy (Compositae or Asteraceae) family. It has long been popular in Europe and acquired symbolic, historic and other meanings.

Violet-coloured alpine flowers include the pretty aster, which I saw on my first nature walk in Zermatt. You might also see violet-coloured primroses (Sticky Primrose, Alpine Snowbell).

What is the rare flower in the Alps? ›

Edelweiss – the Symbol of the Alps

The mountain landscape around Zermatt is exceptionally rich in beautiful and rare alpine flowers. These include the Edelweiss, the queen and symbol of the Alps. Edelweiss is strictly protected and may not be picked.

At higher elevations, however, the largest extent of forest is coniferous; spruce, larch, and a variety of pine are the main species. For the most part, spruce dominance reaches its upper limit at approximately 7,200 feet in the Western Alps.

Alpine plants are plants that grow in an alpine climate, which occurs at high elevation and above the tree line. There are many different plant species and taxa that grow as a plant community in these alpine tundra. These include perennial grasses, sedges, forbs, cushion plants, mosses, and lichens.

With the rise of mountain tourism at the end of the 19th century, the edelweiss became the badge and symbol of alpinists and mountaineers. In order to prevent the extinction of the often picked symbolic species, it was placed under nature protection early on.

Anthroposophically, there are two qualities in particular that make edelweiss so valuable: its incredible vitality – the ability to grow under extreme conditions of cold and intense sunlight and the high order of its blossom.

Immortalised by the song from The Sound of Music, Edelweiss is an Alpine flower in the Daisy family (Asteraceae). The 'flower' is a combination of tiny composite heads of yellow flowers and longer, furry 'bracts' – modified leaves which the plant uses for display.