Authors: Lam.
to 50cm tall, though often less. Basal leaves long-stalked, biternate, with shallowly lobed segments, generally rather glaucous; stem leaves in a singly whorl, linear to lanceolate, usually undivided. Flowers solitary, 3-6cm across, scarlet, pink, bluish or purple, often with a pale, yellowish or whitish zone towards the centre; the petals eight to twelve, elliptic, spreading widely apart. Achenes densely woolly. Rocky and grassy habitats, olive groves, vineyards. Central and eastern Mediterranean from southwestern France eastwards. Often confused with A. coronaria, but readily distinguished by its undivided stem leaves and the narrower and generally more numerous petals. The two species can often grow together in the wild, but intermediates do not appear to occur. In the garden it is a plant for the bulb frame or a sunny well drained scree where it will self-sow under favourable conditions. [Pl.29]
