Christmas - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1975 - 40 Pfennig

The knock-on prices of these special stamps serve to support the tasks of the "Freie Wohlfahrtspflege". Like the welfare labels in 1975, the Christmas brand 1975 is dedicated to the theme of "alpine flowers". Schneerose (Helleborus niger), family Ranunculaceae When the winter snow has covered all life in the mountains, the sight of the strikingly large white, rose-covered flowers of the snow or Christmas rose seems to us a miracle. She sometimes sticks her flowers out of the snow in December and has therefore become a symbol of the Christmas season, such as the poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) and the holly (Ilex aquifolium). The flowers do not freeze even with some degrees of cold. However, as some snow-roses also bloom at the end of winter or in early spring, some of their folksy names also relate them to Easter. Although snow-rose is a poisonous plant, at the same time it has been used as a folk remedy for various diseases in humans and livestock, and its medicinal properties have been known since antiquity. Among other things, the root was used as a purging and laxative. As a limescale mountain plant, the Christmas rose occurs mainly in the eastern and southern Limestone Alps, the mountains of Italy (Apennines) and the Balkan Peninsula, within Germany alone in the area of ​​the Berchtesgaden Alps. It is found in sparse forests up to the Krummholz region, but also on rocky mats, occasionally up to an altitude of 1850 m.