Authors: Rollins  

Botanical Description

perennial with well separated tufts of 3-10cm tall stems from fleshy, runner-like rhizomes (up to 60cm long in the wild). Leaves densely clustered just below the inflorescence, wedge-shaped, glabrous to downy. Racemes dense and ball-like, not elongating in seed. Flowers white, 7-9mm wide, probably fragrant, late spring to summer in the wild. Chile, Argentina and southern Patagonia, in screes and gravelly soil at 900-1700m in a damper, less arid climate than most other species. M. rigida is similar but up to 16cm tall with a less congested habit. Its flowers are definitely fragrant. Northern Patagonian lake district, at 1700-1900m. [Pl.276].