Authors: L.  

Botanical Description

but old plants may extend into small mats by means of short stolons. Leaves 3-8cm long, obovate to spathulate, entire or shallowly crenate. Flowerheads 2.3-4.5cm across, the ray florets white above, tipped or entirely suffused red beneath, on stems to 15cm or more tall, spring to autumn. Europe to western Asia, in grassland, open forest and waste ground. A very variable species with quill-petalled and double forms. In the quaint cultivar 'Hens-and-Chickens' secondary flowerheads radiate from below the primary head. Several cultivars are much used in bedding; a few may be admitted to the rock garden, i.e. the double pink-flowered 'Dresden China', a charming quill-petalled miniature, and the larger crimson 'Rob Roy' and its less common pink counterpart 'Alice'. B.p. 'Aucubifolia' is a neat form with glossy gold-mottled foliage and white flowers, but other colours are said to have existed in the past. All require frequent division and re-planting in early autumn, preferably in positions that give part-day shade.