Leontopodium alpinum, commonly known as edelweiss, is native to the mountains of southeastern and south-central Europe. Its distribution ranges from the Pyrenees to the Alps and eastwards over the peninsula of the Balkans to the central Balkans in Bulgaria, where it is found between 1,500-3,400 m asl. It is confined to limestone substrates. The genus name comes from Greek and translates as "lion's paw". Edelweiss is the national symbol for Austria and Switzerland. This common German name translates to "noble white", a reference to the flowers which were highly cherished in parts of southern Europe.
The plant may reach to 30 cm in cultivation but is often less in the wild. Plants form a clump of many rosettes. Its narrow leaves, flower stems and especially the flowers, are covered in dense hairs, an adaptation to cold, arid-conditions and ultraviolet protection. Each bloom consists of five to six small yellow florets surrounded by fuzzy white "petals" (technically they are bracts) in a double star formation. In the wild, the flowers bloom between July and September.
Plants sold as L. nivale and L. pamiricum are simply subspecies of L. alpinum.