Etymology: leontopodium = lion’s foot, referring to the form of the lower part of the flowers; nivale = of the snow, referring to the high altitude habitat, with hard continuous snowfall (although the species lives preferentially on windy ridges with only a brief period of snow coverage).
Synonyms: Leontopodium alpinum Cass. ssp. nivale (Ten.) Tutin, Leontopodium nivale (Ten.) Huet ex Hand.-Mazz.
Italian name: Stella alpina dell’Appennino.
English name: Edelweiss
Biological form: Hemicryptophyte
Phenology: flowers: June-July, fruit: August-September, dispersal: September.
Altitudinal range: (1900) 2100-2800 m a.s.l..
Geographical distribution: Central Apennines (Italy) and Prokletije Mountains (Crna Gora, Montenegro). Very rare, in Italy localized only on four massifs in the Central Apennines (Italy), while on another two it is considered to have become extinct at the end of the last century.
Habitus: very short perennial herbaceous plant with white hairs, stem woody in the lower part only, with just one flower stem 2-5 cm high, erect and with short leaves.
Leaves: basal and on stem, up to 5 mm wide x 12 mm long.
Flowers: bright yellow, grouped in 5-6 heads with underlying bracts.
Fruits: 1 mm long achenes with straw-like 5 mm hairs.
Seeds: 1 mm long achenes. Wind dispersion.
Pollen: Insect pollination.
Habitat and ecology: almost snow-free windy limestone ridges at high altitudes. In Italy, the 10-15 confirmed populations are scattered on four different Central Apennine massifs, very far from each other,covering a total area of 1-1500 km2. The few thousand surviving plants are the last fragments of a larger Central Apennine population which survived for orographic reasons in areas not affected by glaciation. The recent disappearance of the southernmost population reduces and moves 30 km northward the current distribution of the species, threatened by climate changes particularly at low altitudes.
Synecology: in Italy, Sesleria tenuifolia dominated high-elevation dry grassland (Pediculari elegantis-Seslerietum tenuifoliae), alpine tundra cushion vegetation dominated by Silene acaulis ssp. cenisia and Saxifraga speciosa (Saxifrago speciosae-Silenetum cenisiae).
Life-strategy (sensu Grime & Co.): stress-tolerant.
IUCN: NT (Near threatened). Threats: picking, climate change. Picking is forbidden in all Italian populations (as they are all located in national parks) and in some populations in Montenegro (national parks already established or only proposed).
Myths and legends: once upon a time, the Edelweiss was a beautiful girl with a pure and noble heart. She was desired by many knights, but none was worthy to become her bridegroom. When she died, she was taken to the highest mountain peaks where she was transformed into a flower… a flower which only grows in unattainable places. A second legend tells of a young man who went to the mountains to collect herbs and hunt marmots, but never came home. After some days, his wife became worried and left to look for her husband. She found his body between two sheets of ice and stayed crying all day long on a nearby rock. When dark approached, the young girl remained there and continued crying all night long, so that the following morning her hairs and eyelashes were covered with frost, like a silvery down. She prayed to the Lord, asking to stay close to her loved one forever and to watch over him from her rock. Her prayer was granted and she was turned into an Edelweiss, covered with the same silvery down. According to tradition, the species therefore grows on high mountain rocks, rare and wonderful, in unattainable locations. And in fact, the species grows mainly in high-altitude grasslands on mountain ridges. Its presumed unattainability, together with its unquestionable beauty and appeal, make picking it very desirable, so that, until a few decades ago, many hikers often came back home bringing a small bouquet of Edelweiss to their loved ones, as a token of their love and proof of courage. As a result of the establishment of large national parks, protecting the whole distribution area, this despicable behavior has almost completely disappeared.
IUCN: NT (Near threatened).
Central Apennines (Italy) and Prokletije Mountains (Crna Gora, Montenegro). Very rare, in Italy localized only on four massifs in the Central Apennines (Italy), while on another two it is considered to have become extinct at the end of the last century.
Biological form: Hemicryptophyte
Habitus: very short perennial herbaceous plant with white hairs, stem woody in the lower part only, with just one flower stem 2-5 cm high, erect and with short leaves.
Leaves: basal and on stem, up to 5 mm wide x 12 mm long.
Flowers: bright yellow, grouped in 5-6 heads with underlying bracts.
Fruits: 1 mm long achenes with straw-like 5 mm hairs.
Seeds: 1 mm long achenes. Wind dispersion.
Pollen: insect pollination.
Almost snow-free windy limestone ridges at high altitudes: (1900) 2100-2800 m a.s.l..
Synecology: in Italy, Sesleria tenuifolia dominated high-elevation dry grassland (Pediculari elegantis-Seslerietum tenuifoliae), alpine tundra cushion vegetation dominated by Silene acaulis ssp. cenisia and Saxifraga speciosa (Saxifrago speciosae-Silenetum cenisiae).
Life-strategy (sensu Grime & Co.): stress-tolerant.
In Italy, the 10-15 confirmed populations are scattered on four different Central Apennine massifs, very far from each other,covering a total area of 1-1500 km2. The few thousand surviving plants are the last fragments of a larger Central Apennine population which survived for orographic reasons in areas not affected by glaciation. The recent disappearance of the southernmost population reduces and moves 30 km northward the current distribution of the species, threatened by climate changes particularly at low altitudes.
Its particular habitat (almost snow-free windy ridges at high altitudes on limestone) increases the threats due to climate changes, just as in the past its unquestionable beauty and appeal led to a strong reduction in the size of the population due to the despicable behavior of picking and collecting the flowers.
Picking is forbidden in all Italian populations (as they are all located in national parks) and in some populations in Montenegro (national parks already established or only proposed).
Leontopodium nivale subsp. nivale is a very rare entity (subspecies) localized only on four massifs in the Central Apennines (Italy) and on the Prokletije Mountains (Montenegro, in the Balkan Peninsula).
Its particular habitat (almost snow-free windy ridges at high altitudes on limestone) increases the threats due to climate changes, just as in the past its unquestionable beauty and appeal led to a strong reduction in the size of the population due to the despicable behavior of picking and collecting the flowers.
