Authors: Scop.  

Botanical Description

Soil or rock, often forming a dense turf. Leaves very small, spathulate to obovate, 4-10 X 2-4mm, densely clustered on the twigs, particularly toward the tips, acute or truncate, base cuneate, margins entire, upper surface glossy dark green, underside paler matt. Catkins appearing after the leaves on very short peduncles, few-flowered, globular, about 5mm long, anthers bright yellow, later brown, scales yellow or light brown. Eastern and central Alps, in stony alpine turf, crumbling rock and exposed ridges at 1800-3200m, calcicole. Closely related to S. retusa of which it is often regarded as a variety. It is, however, quite distinct apart from structural details, in its much smaller size and compact habit. Although small, the male catkins can cover a well-flowered specimen with a sheet of gold.