The blåsippa blooms in Swedish forests between April and May, meaning it is one of the earliest spring flowers to bloom in Sweden, even popping up through the snow in some areas.
The latin name for blåsippor is anemone hepatica, and they also go by the name common hepatica, liverwort or pennywort in English.
It is most common in southern Sweden, although it does grow as far north as southern Norrland.
The blåsippa is a protected flower in all of Sweden, meaning that you can't dig it up or pick the flowers, so you won't see the small blue flowers for sale in florists or garden centres.
In some areas, the rules are even stricter. In Halland, Skåne, Stockholm and Västerbotten counties, and parts of Västra Götaland county, you are not allowed to remove or damage the flowers or even collect its seeds.
The name blåsippa is a compound made up of the word for blue, blå, and the word sippa, which is the Swedish name for plants in the Anemone genus, which are related to buttercups and sometimes referred to in English as windflowers.
Other common plants in this genus you may also come across in Sweden are vitsippor (literally: "white sippor", known in English as wood anemones), and gulsippa ("yellow sippa", known in English as yellow anemone, yellow wood anemone, or buttercup anemone).
The word sippa can be traced back to the Finland-Swedish word for vitsippa used in the Nyland or Uusimaa region of Finland: säper. This in turn comes from the French word chapel, borrowed into Swedish from the German schappel or scheppel, which means "crown of flowers", "diadem", "royal crown" or "bridal crown".
In popular culture, blåsippor are perhaps most well-known as the official flower of the nationalist Sweden Democrats political party since 2006. The flowers are also blue and yellow, the same colours as the Swedish flag.
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Almost all of Sweden's political parties have historically had official flowers, and some still do, such as the Social Democrats' red rose, the Left Party's red carnation, the Centre Party's four-leaf clover and the Green's dandelion.
The Christian Democrats had a wood anemone or vitsippa prior to 2017 and the Liberals had a cornflower prior to 2016. The Moderates are the only party without an official flower, choosing instead a blue letter M as their party symbol.
There is also a popular Swedish children's song about blåsippor, Blåsippan ute i backarna står, about children picking blåsippor in the spring and running home to their mother, saying that they no longer have to wear shoes or socks because spring has now arrived.
"Blåsippor don't catch colds," their mother says, telling them they still have to wear shoes and socks as it's still winter.
Example sentences:
Får man plocka blåsippor?
Are you allowed to pick blåsippor?
Nej, blåsippor är fridlysta i Sverige.
No, blåsippor are protected in Sweden.
Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is available to order. Head to lysforlag.com/vvv to read more about it. It is also possible to buy your copy from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Bokus or Adlibris.
Emma Löfgren, Editor, The Local Sweden
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