Authors: Cav.
Clump to colony-forming, to 10cm tall but usually less, spreading by branching rhizomes covered with linear, thin and fleshy scales. Leaflets nine or more, obcordate, deeply lobed, usually glaucous, more or less fleshy-textured. Flowers solitary, just topping the leaves, fragrant, about 2.5cm long, white to pale rosy-purple with lavender or darker purple veins, late spring to summer. Southern tip of South America and the Falkland Islands, sea level to 1100m or more, in grassland, scrub, amongst rocks and in coastal sand. Amongst rocks and in coastal sand. Individual plants are self-sterile, but reproduce by bulbils. A variable species in the wild regarding leaf and flower size and colour. The following are cultivated: O.e. 'Alba' has self-white flowers, 'Ruth Tweedie' is shell-pink, 'Rosea' is light purple-pink and 'Rubra' is purplish-red. 'Minutifolia' has much smaller leaves and a more compact habit. Dark green leaved forms are known but do not appear to be cultivated. [Pl.325].
