Authors: L.
A variable species of tufted habit growing from an almost woody central rootstock. Rosettes loose and spreading, 1-2cm across. Leaves awl-shaped, pointed, more or less fleshy, with or without small, downy hairs. Flowers cup-shaped, pink, occasionally white, with a yellow eye, 5-9mm wide, in umbels on stems 2-7cm in height. Western Alps and eastern Pyrenees above 1900m, in turf, scree and stable moraine over acidic rocks. A. c. subsp. rosea (including var. halleri) is more vigorous, has larger rosettes and flatter somewhat wider flowers. A. c. subsp. laggeri forms small cushions of smaller rosettes (7-12mm across) formed of even narrower leaves. The cupped flowers are a deep glowing pink. Perhaps the most desirable subspecies, largely represented in Britain by cv. 'Andorra'. A. c. subsp. brigantiaca (syn. A. brigantiaca) is limited to the south-western Alps where it forms cushions of very wide open rosettes, the leaves 1-3cm in length; flowering stems 10-15cm tall.
