Habitat: full sun or under glass
Soil: gritty, moist but well drained
Height: 5 cm
Flowering: late spring
Width: 10 cm
The name Androsace brings to mind pictures of high alpine cushions, clinging to the most inaccessible rock crevices, or perhaps grown to perfection as show plants. In fact the genus also includes some that make spreading mats and are easily grown outside without protection, some meadow herbs, and some annual weeds. You won't find the last group here. The majority are high alpines, making cushions or mats of tight rosettes, with short-stems flowers, singly or in small clusters.
Androsace carnea SDR6357 is from the southern Alps, and has short-stemmed umbels of pink flowers, each with a yellow eye, over a cushion or mat of loose rosettes of evergreen, linear foliage.
9 cm pot £3.50
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| Androsace albana bears neat rosettes of rosy pink flowers. | |
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| Androsace bisulca var. aurata is a rare and highly sought after Androsace, distinctive by virtue of it golden yellow flowers, whereas almost all its relatives are in the pink to white range. It grows at high altitudes in hard turf over rocks that are normally acidic, in regions that have relatively little rainfall. | |
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| Androsace lehmannii makes mats of small rosettes, with tiny leaves in winter and larger (but still quite small) ones in summer. The white or pink flowers with yellow eyes are borne singly on short stems, a few to each rosette. From a very wet area of the Himalaya. | |
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| Androsace mariae is a gorgeous compact species from China. The flowers are in small clusters and often white, although they can vary through shades of pink and violet-blue. Each flowers has an orange-yellow eye, which deepens to pink as the flowers go over. | |
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| Androsace cf. mariae SDR4768 makes mats, sometimes quite wide, of small rosettes, growing on shady banks under trees. From the rosettes arise short stems, each topped with a good number of rosy pink flowers. | |
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| Androsace rigida makes wide-spreading mats of rosettes of neat green foliage, with delicate, soft pink flowers in small clusters on short stems. | |
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| Androsace rotundifolia produces dense umbels of pink flowers with yellow eyes; from the Himalayas. | |
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| Androsace sarmentosa is a name that was for a long time applied incorrectly to Androsace studiosorum. The real thing is a rather more delicate plant, with small, lax rosettes of hairy leaves, spreading by runners. The flowers are pink with a yellow eye. | |
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| Androsace sarmentosa var. watkinsii is from the western Sichuan Province and bears umbels of many pink or white flowers above a neat rosette. | |
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| Androsace sempervivoides has small rosettes of green leaves, from which arise short stems with clusters of pink flowers. It quickly spreads by runners to give a mat of rosettes, and doesn't need winter protection. | |
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| Androsace sempervivoides CC4622 has small rosettes of green leaves, from which arise short stems with clusters of pink flowers. It quickly spreads by runners to give a mat of rosettes, and doesn’t need winter protection. This is a collection from Nepal. | |
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| Androsace sempervivoides CC4631 has small rosettes of green leaves, from which arise short stems with clusters of pink flowers. It quickly spreads by runners to give a mat of rosettes, and doesn’t need winter protection. This is a collection from Nepal. | |
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| Androsace sempervivoides CC5299 has clusters of pink flowers on short stems, above rosettes of softly hairy leaves. It spreads by runners to give a mat of rosettes, and doesn’t need winter protection to live, although the flowers will be better without too much winter wet. This is a collection from Nepal. | |
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| Androsace sempervivoides 'Susan Joan' is to all intents and purposes a fine form of Androsace studiosorum, with hairy rosettes, spreading rapidly by runners, with umbels of bright pink flowers. | |
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| Androsace spinulifera is wonderful when seen in abundance in grassland in the wild. Then it has quite tall, hairy leaves and a large umbel of rich red-pink flowers, but the wintering rosettes are small and tight, with tiny leaves. Sometimes it is reluctant to grow again in spring, but we find it responds to a good watering late in March. | |
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| Androsace spinulifera SDR5948 looks lovely in grassland in the wild, as in the site from which this came, on the shores of a lake at 3500 m. It has quite tall, hairy leaves and a large umbel of rich red-pink flowers, but the wintering rosettes are small and tight, with tiny leaves. | |
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| Androsace strigillosa has neat rosettes of small leaves in winter, and much larger leaves in summer. It has upright stems with a loose umbel of a few flowers, white when they are open. But what makes this highly sought after is the reverse of the petals, seen also in bud, which is a deep, dusky pink, outlined with white. It has grown well outside for many years, eventually making a wide clump. | |
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| Androsace studiosorum has tight rosettes of small, hairy leaves, which produce short stems, each with a cluster of bright pink flowers with a deeper red eye. It quickly spreads by runners to give a mat of rosettes. It survives well in the open, but flowers better if protected from the worst of the winter wet. This form has been around under the names Androsace primuloides and Androsace sarmentosa. |