Authors: L.  

Botanical Description

Makes lax rosettes of bright green leaves 2-2.5cm long, lanceolate and tapering to a sheathing petiole. Flowering stems 20-35cm high bearing one to four bright yellow flowers, the petals about 1.2cm long dotted with orange and red in the lower part. There is a selected form, var. major with larger flowers. Northern, eastern and central Europe including the northern part of Great Britain, also Arctic America in wet habitats. Not an easy plant to grow in the garden, particularly in the south of Britain. A moist, acid soil is required. For a form of this plant growing in the Himalaya which is almost identical to the European form, see S. montana.

a, S. flagellaris; b, S. hirculus; c, S. melanocentra; d, S. neopropagulifera; e, S. punctulata;