Leontopodium
(the Greek name, given originally by Dioscorides; from leon, leontos, a lion, and pous, a foot; in reference to the flower-heads resembling the foot of a lion). Lion's Foot. ORD. Compositae. A genus comprising five species of tufted woolly perennial herbs, of which three (probably varieties of one) inhabit the mountains of Europe, and extra-tropical Asia, and the others are natives of the Andes of South America. Flower-heads small, in dense cymes at the apices of the branches; floral leaves involucrate, clustered. Leaves, radical ones sub-spathulate; cauline ones alternate, entire. L. alpinum, the only species in cultivation, is a pretty hardy plant, which is largely collected for sale by the peasants in Switzerland, &c., under the popular title of Edelweiss. It succeeds in firm, well-drained sandy soil, on exposed parts of rockwork. New plants may be raised from seeds, annually, or the old plants may be divided, in spring. Seeds ripen but sparingly in this country in moist seasons, but are more freely produced when the summers are favourable. They must be kept in a dry place throughout the winter. L. alpinum (alpine).* Edelweiss. fl.-heads terminal, enveloped in woolly bracts. June and July. l. white, woolly; lower ones lanceolate, narrowed into the stalk; cauline ones sessile, linear-oblong. h. 6in. Alps, 1776. (B. M. 1958, under name of Gnaphalium Leontopodium.)