Edelweiss is a flower that grows in the highlands. Precisely because it is found only high in the mountains, where a man’s foot rarely steps, many beautiful legends and stories have been written about him.
The botanical name of this flower is Leontopodium, it came from the merger of two Greek words - “lion” (leon) and “paw” (opodion). That is, the literal translation is the lion's paw, on which the edelweiss really resembles. The flower has many more names: for example, the French call it the “Alpine star”, the Italians call it “the silver flower of the rocks”, you can still hear the names “mountain star”, “Prometheus flower” or “Princess of the Alps”. In general, people did not stint and collected the most beautiful poetic images to describe edelweiss.
But what about the Russian name? However, it can only be called Russian conditionally, because edelweiss is a German word that means “noble white”.
What does edelweiss look like?
The flower, the photo of which is given in this article, most closely resembles the tiny stars that showered the mountain slopes of the Carpathians and the Alps during flowering. The plant has narrow leaves with a furry lower surface, they are collected in a thick basal rosette. The color of the leaves is interesting - it can vary from gray-green to silver. In the summer, a rather tall leafy stem about 25 cm tall grows from the outlet. Later, beautiful white flowers bloom on it, similar to small stars covered with delicate white fur.
Edelweiss flowers: stories and legends
Since ancient times, this plant has been called a symbol of love, longevity and happiness. Men, in order to achieve a favorable attitude of their lady of the heart, went to the mountains to find one single edelweiss. The flower, found with such difficulty, was then handed over to her beloved girl as evidence that a man was ready to go around the mountains for her, in the most literal sense of the word.
However, such a situation is more a poetic image than reality. Edelweiss during flowering is quite common on the slopes of the mountains, so the mythical lover did not need to look for a flower for a long time, but just had to wait for the right time. At least this was until recently, when tourists, attracted by these same legends, did not begin to collect edelweiss in heaps. Therefore, at present, these plants are listed in the Red Book of Russia.
In addition, the legends about the appearance of edelweiss are interesting . According to one of them, the plant appeared from the body of a woman who found her husband lifeless in the mountains and decided to die with him; according to the other, he emerged from the tears of a beautiful fairy who fell in love with a young man, but could not come down from the mountains. There are dozens of such legends, but each one necessarily has a love story with a tragic denouement.
What else can be said about edelweiss? This flower is not only very beautiful, but also extremely useful. As scientists have proved, it contains many antioxidants, which are considered the best substance to preserve youthful skin. And now this plant is used for the manufacture of cosmetics. It should be noted that for these purposes, edelweiss is grown, not harvested, because in the wild they are becoming smaller ...