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Harmless☠️ To avoid

⭐ Edelweiss

Leontopodium alpinum · Asteraceae

🏔️ Mountains
🧠 To remember it“Look at the edelweiss, never pick it” — a species protected by law across all French Alpine and Pyrenean massifs.
Edelweiss — Leontopodium alpinum

🔍 Identify it without mistakes

Small iconic perennial plant of high mountains, 5 to 20 cm, entirely covered in a thick white woolly down (protective felt against the cold and intense altitude UV). The characteristic star-shaped inflorescence consists of several small yellowish flower heads surrounded by woolly white bracts arranged in a 5 to 9-pointed star.

  1. dense woolly white felt over the entire plant
  2. star-shaped inflorescence with white bracts
  3. low cushion-like growth habit, 5-20 cm
  4. grows exclusively in limestone scree at very high altitudes
Size5-20 cm
FloweringJuly-September
Habitathigh-altitude limestone scree and grasslands, 1800-3400 m, Alps and Pyrenees, rare species

🪓 Other bushcraft uses

  • major cultural and tourist symbol of the Alps
Sources (2)

No entry replaces a certain identification in the field, or medical advice. When in doubt: don't eat it. If ingestion is suspected: poison control or 112/911.