Authors: L.
Clump to small mat-forming, more or less pubescent, about 15cm in height, sometimes more. Leaves mostly basal, spathulate to narrowly lanceolate, 3-7cm long. Flowerheads to 5cm across, the rays violet-blue, sometimes pink or white. Circumboreal and in mountains to the south of its range, meadows, stony places and among rocks to above 3000m in the Alps and Pyrenees. A variable species in the wild which has yielded several good varieties and cultivars: 'Albus' (white), 'Beechwood' (blue), var. dolomiticus (purple), 'Golianth' (25cm violet-blue), 'Pirinensis' (deep rose), 'Roseus' (pale pink), 'Ruber' (red), var. speciosus (to 30cm or more, deep violet, from central Asia), 'Superbus' (purple), 'Wargrave' (hlac), var. wolfii (blue, from Switzerland), all early summer.
