Authors: Boiss.  

Botanical Description

Densely cushion-forming, blue-grey. Leaves 8-20mm long, linear, triquetrous or almost so, dotted with lime incrustations. Flower spikes with one or two branches, densely distichous or imbricate. Calyx 1.4-1.6cm long, five or ten lobed, white or purple; petals bright pink. Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece and Turkey, on mountain tops, stony slopes and screes over limestone and serpentine at 1200-3000m A.u. var. creticum (syn. A. androsaceum var. creticum and A. creticum) have pubescent leaves 5-8mm long (Crete and Anatolia). A.u. subsp. lycaonicum has green or glaucous green leaves and purple floral bracts. A.u. var. purpurascens produces pink or purple calyces. A. ulicinum and its varieties are reasonably amenable to cultivation and are worth trying outside.