Ecological Studies from a Philatelic Perspective (I) - the Edelweiss in Romanian Philately

Until the beginning of the 21st century, the concerns related to the management of protected areas were reduced only to the voluntary initiatives of nature lovers, rarely materializing in specific measures to promote the conservation of endangered biodiversity by the authorities or administrators of those areas. As the concern for the management of protected areas and biodiversity is relatively new in Romania, and information related to this subject is relatively scarce, especially those regarding the species of ecosystems under the Habitats Directive, we considered necessary this study on the edelweiss, this being a species emblematic for Romania. Through this paper, we aimed to review some aspects of the edelweiss, namely its association with thematic philately. Following the analyzes carried out, based on the data from the literature consulted (articles, catalogs, books, blogs, etc), as well as following the observations made based on philatelic e-commerce sites, we concluded that the edelweiss, as well as the ecosystem in which it (re)finds, have been and still are of interest, both for international philately and for that of our country; as proof the significant number of issues and philatelic circulations that we have identified, analyzed and interpreted, during over 60 years of postal activity (the first issue appeared in Romania dating from 1957). What is even more surprising is a large number of philatelic occurrences of the floristic species, in various facets, both within the reference habitat (rock at the level of alpine hollows) and outside it.