Authors: R. Br.
eventually to 20cm or more across and 5-10cm tall in bloom. Leaves ovate in outline, l-2cm long, pinnate or pinnatisect, with five to nine broadly lanceolate lobes or leaflets, dark green. Flowering stems leafless, topped by a short raceme of 5mm wide pure white flowers, late spring and summer. Pyrenees, Alps, Apennines, in calcareous screes and rocks 1100-3400m. H.a. subsp. brevicaulis is dwarfer and more compact, with leaves composed of three to seven lobes and flowering stems up to 5cm high. Alps, Apennines and Balkan peninsula, also on acidic or neutral bedrock. H.a. subsp. auerswaldii is taller than H. alpina itself, with leafy flowering stems 10-15cm high. Northern Spain (Cordillera Cantabrica). The name H. affinis has been used for plants blending the characters of H. alpina and H.a. subsp. brevicaulis native to the Pyrenees and the southwestern Alps.
