Authors: L.  

Botanical Description

Viscaria alpina). Tufted perennial with erect stems 5-15cm in height. Basal leaves narrowly spathulate to linear, fairly crowded; stem leaves few, somewhat shorter and broader. Flowers 6-12mm wide, rose-purple, more rarely white, the smaller ones usually functionally female only (stamens aborted), in more or less head-likeclusters of ten to twenty, summer. Northern Europe and mountains farther south, in meadows and rocky stony places at 2200-3100m, usually in siliceous formations. Very tolerant of copper and nickel in the soil and used as an indicator plant by prospectors of these metals.

a, L. alpina; b, L. viscaria;