Mountain Edelweiss is a perennial herbaceous plant, usually standing 15-25 centimeters tall.

Its rhizomes have short branches, and the basal leaves are linear, covered with soft white hairs on both sides.

Numerous leafy bracts are ovate to linear-elliptic, densely covered in white hairs, forming a star-shaped cluster. The small, pale yellow flower heads are densely packed at the top of the branches, resembling spherical shapes. Several flower stalks cluster together, ranging from a few to over ten, alongside a few sterile stems lacking rosettes of leaves.

It thrives in high-altitude regions with rocks and limestone, growing in forests, dry shrublands, grasslands, and meadows between 1400-3500 meters above sea level. Native to European mountains, it spans from the Pyrenees to the Alps and eastward to the Balkan Peninsula in central Bulgaria, typically thriving in exposed ridge habitats.

Widely cultivated and planted, it's a significant symbol for tourists in the Alps, often visible at altitudes exceeding 1700 meters along Alpine roadsides.

Mountain Edelweiss, belonging to the Asteraceae family, most often doesn't exceed 10 centimeters in height, with pure white petals reaching a maximum size of 2 centimeters when fully open.

Its primary value lies in admiring its densely hairy leaves and bracts, which, when dried, can be preserved for extended periods. It's a cherished emblem for Alpine tourists, cultivated in rock gardens to replicate high-altitude scenes and sometimes grown indoors in pots. Its fluffy and glandular-hairy foliage emits a lemon fragrance, highly appealing to people.

Recognized as a protected plant in many countries, it serves as the national flower of Switzerland and Austria and is renowned as a prominent alpine flower across Europe. Its genus name comes from the Greek words "leon," meaning lion, and "podion," meaning foot, as its fresh flowers and bract-like leaves are said to resemble a lion's paw.

This plant genus contains numerous active compounds—over a hundred volatile oil components have been identified, alongside flavonoids, phenolic compounds, isobenzofuran ketones, and terpenes. Mountain Edelweiss showcases various active ingredients with significant pharmacological effects, making exploring and developing natural products with potent activity, high efficacy, and minimal adverse reactions imperative.

However, while exploiting its resources, it's crucial to ensure the sustainable use of wild resources, necessitating the cultivation of Mountain Edelweiss.

In traditional medicine, Mountain Edelweiss has been used to treat various kidney diseases (acute and chronic nephritis, urethritis, proteinuria, hematuria) and ailments like heat-induced colds and traumatic bleeding.

Recent discoveries highlight its compounds' ability to lower blood sugar and lipids, possess anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, prevent dementia, and safeguard cardiovascular and nervous systems.

Extracts from Mountain Edelweiss have been utilized to treat abdominal diseases, angina pectoris, heart diseases, bronchitis, diarrhea, dysentery, fever, pneumonia, rheumatic pain, tonsillitis, and various cancers in humans and animals.

Additionally, its remarkable antioxidant activity finds application in preventing and treating coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases and in industrial cosmetics for producing anti-aging and sunscreen products.

Due to challenges in collecting ample Mountain Edelweiss from its natural habitat, the plant's wild population has significantly decreased, leading to a scarcity of fantastic resources and ecological damage.

Many countries have banned the collection of wild Mountain Edelweiss to protect its resources. In Switzerland, large-scale cultivation is underway to conserve the species.

Employing the TERNPC (TERN Plant Non-Tissue Culture) high-efficiency rapid propagation technology for non-tube planting of Mountain Edelweiss seedlings can facilitate the production of purebred, non-variant, cost-effective, short-cycle, large-scale, and industrialized plants, meeting the demands of various sectors promptly.