Saturday, January 05, 2008
Edelweiss---Bless my homeland forever
Edelweiss is a European mountain flower. The Edelweiss came from German edel (meaning noble) and weiß (meaning white). The botanical name for this plant is Leontopodium in Greek called leon (means lion) podion (meaning paw). The flower looks almost like a Lions paw.
The flower's stalks grow to a size of 3-40 cm. It is found generally at altitudes from 1700 meters to 2700 meters. it is well adapted to climatic extremes. Due to its deep fibrous roots and the felt like covering of its leaves get protection from drought, ravages of winds and the potentially damaging sunshine.
Due to the covering of white hairs on the flower looks woolly white. In the center of the flower it contains 5 to 10 yellow flower heads of size 5cm, with a medium-sized leaflet to form a start structure. It blooms between July and September. It is unequally distributed and prefers rocky limestone places at 2000-2900 m altitude. It is not toxic, but has been used traditionally in folk medicine as a remedy against abdominal and respiratory diseases.
This plant is protected in some countries like Bulgaria, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria and Romania.
Many of you can recall Grandpa Scheuber singing this song with such vigor and pride. John and I took Shelly to see her first movie when she was 5 years old. It was The Sound of Music. It became her all time favorite movie as she watched it over and over again over the years. Of course a highlight of the movie for many is when the Captain picks up his guitar and sings Eidleweiss as he knows that he is going to leave his homeland.
