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Botanical Description

Perennial or monocarpic, forming an elegant rosette up to 12cm in diameter and 3-4cm in height, usually, but not always, solitary. Leaves densely imbricated, fleshy, spathulate, often glaucous, l-3cm by 5-10mm, entire or three to seven lobed towards the tip, tapering to a long, broad petiole about twice as long as the blade. Inflorescence a dense, shallow, sessile dome 2-6cm in diameter, composed of innumerable small flowers like a powder puff. Flowers ivory to white, 5-6mm long in many small groups enclosed by the bracts of the receptacle, summer to early autumn in the wild. Chile and Argentina, extreme southern Andean Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego in feldmark and summit screes at 700-1200m.