''Androsace villosa'' is an

alpine plant Alpine plants are plants that grow in an alpine climate, which occurs at high elevation and above the tree line. There are many different plant species and taxa that grow as a plant community in these alpine tundra. These include perennial grasses, ...

, widespread in the mountains of Europe and Asia. It is frequently grown by alpine gardeners., pp. 78–79

Description

''A. villosa'' is very variable. The typical form grown in gardens is a small tufted or mat-forming perennial, with rosettes of linear to elliptical leaves, up to 1.5 cm across. The leaves have fine hairs underneath, particularly towards the tips. The flowers, which are 6–10 mm in diameter, are in umbels on stems up to 3 cm tall. They vary in colour from white to red-purple, with a pink or yellow eye. The white forms may age to pink.

Distribution

In the wild, ''A. villosa'' grows on limestone mountains in Europe and Asia, usually on rocky slopes above 1500 m.

Cultivation

''Androsace villosa'' is widely grown in

rock garden A rock garden, also known as a rockery and formerly as a rockwork, is a garden, or more often a part of a garden, with a landscaping framework of rocks, stones, and gravel, with planting appropriate to this setting. Usually these are small A ...

s. A number of forms are in cultivation: * ''A. villosa'' var. ''arachnoidea'' has a compact habit and more woolly rosettes. * ''A. villosa'' var. ''taurica'' (syn. ''A. taurica'') has pink flowers with a red eye. * ''A. villosa'' var. ''jacquemontii'', from the Himalaya above 3500 m, is stoloniferous, spreading to form large mats. The leaves are more densely hairy; the flowers are red-purple with a greenish-yellow eye. It is sensitive to winter wet. Androsace villosa var jacquemontii

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q226965

villosa ''Villosa'' is a genus of freshwater mussels, aquatic bivalve molluscs in the family Unionidae The Unionidae are a family of freshwater mussels, the largest in the order Unionida, the bivalve molluscs sometimes known as river mussels, or simp ...

Alpine flora Flora of Europe Flora of temperate Asia Flora of the Alps Garden plants of Europe Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora of the Carpathians