One of the most spectacular places to see alpenrose flowers: near the Aletsch Glacier in canton Valais (imago)
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The rusty-leaved alpenrose (Rhododendron ferrugineum) is the most common alpenrose in Switzerland. (imago)
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The hairy alpenrose (Rhododendron hirsutum) is rarer and grows at higher elevations. (imago)
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Flower buds on a hairy alpenrose (imago)
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Alpenrose shrubs like rocky terrain. (imago)
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While it’s forbidden to pluck edelweiss or gentian, alpenrose flowers are plentiful and robust enough for picking.
Keystone
Immortalized by Swiss singer Polo Hofer, this flowering plant thrives just above the treeline in the Alps and in the Jura region.
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Not content to mind her own business, Susan studied journalism in Boston so she’d have the perfect excuse to put herself in other people’s shoes and worlds. When not writing, she presents and produces podcasts and videos.
The evergreen shrub – not actually a rose but a rhododendron – can grow up to a metre high, and it flowers from June through August. Its leaves have rusty spots on their undersides, hence the Latin name “Rhododendron ferrugineum”.
The rarer hairy alpenrose, “Rhododendron hirsutum”, is fuzzy and grows at higher elevations, often among limestone rocks and in and around forests. Its more elongated blossoms appear from May through July.
While it’s forbidden to pluck edelweiss or gentian, alpenrose flowers are plentiful and robust enough for picking. However, the blossoms as well as the leaves and seed pods are quite poisonous.
Pop culture
Swiss singer Polo Hofer (1945-2017) released his song “Alperose” in 1985. Sung in Bernese dialect, it’s about a romantic summer night up on Blüemlisalp in the Bernese Oberland. It’s a regular feature on compilation albums, and in 2006 Swiss TV viewers voted it the biggest Swiss hit of all time.
This archive video from Swiss public television, SRF, shows Hofer and his band performing live at the competition.
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The large number of alpine flower species owes much to the delicate relationship between nature and careful farming practices over the years. Mountain farmers ensured for centuries that the alpine regions were used carefully tended, keeping uninhibited tree and bush growth at bay and leaving room for many plant, butterfly and bird species. Over the…
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