Leontopodium nivale, commonly called edelweiss (English: /ˈeɪdəlvaɪs/ ⓘ AY-dəl-vyce; German: Edelweiß [ˈeːdl̩vaɪs] ⓘ or Alpen-Edelweiß), is a mountain flower belonging to the daisy or sunflower family Asteraceae.

[2] It is a scarce, short-lived flower found in remote mountain areas and has been used as a symbol for alpinism, for rugged beauty and purity associated with the Alps and Carpathians.

[4] Edelweiß was one of several regional names for the plant and achieved wide usage during the first half of the 19th century in the context of early Alpine tourism.

[5] Alternative names include Chatzen-Talpen ("cat's paws") and the older Wullbluomen ("wool flower," attested in Early New High German in the 16th century).

Each bloom consists of five to six small yellow clustered spikelet-florets (5 mm, 3⁄16 in) surrounded by fuzzy white "petals" (technically, bracts) in a double-star formation.

Leontopodium nivale prefers rocky limestone locations in the Alps, Pyrenees Mountains, and the Italian Apennines at about 1,800–3,400 metres (5,900–11,200 ft) altitude.

The focus is on an incident from 1856, when the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I went on a mountain hike to the Pasterzen Glacier on the Großglockner with his wife Sisi.

The affection for edelweiss was a common feature of the famous couple and this well-known story raised people's attention to this alpine plant.

A portrait by the painter Franz Xaver Winterhalter painted in 1865 shows Empress Elisabeth with nine artificial edelweiss stars braided in her hair.

The jewelry made of precious metal and diamonds was designed in the years after 1850 by the then court and chamber jeweler Alexander Emanuel Köchert.

The Alpen-Edelweiss was assigned as a badge by Emperor Franz Joseph to troops (three regiments of Kaiserschützen) of the Austro-Hungarian Army intended for use in the mountains.

[25] Auerbach's novel appeared in English translation in 1869, prefaced with a quote attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson: There is a flower known to botanists, one of the same genus with our summer plant called "Life-Everlasting", a Gnaphalium like that, which grows on the most inaccessible cliffs of the Tyrolese mountains, where the chamois dare hardly venture, and which the hunter, tempted by its beauty, and by his love (for it is immensely valued by the Swiss maidens), climbs the cliffs to gather, and is sometimes found dead at the foot, with the flower in his hand.