Androsace sempervivoides CC5299 ^AGM

Primulaceae

Androsace sempervivoides

Habitat: open, sunny rockery or raised bed Flowering: early summer Height: 5 cm Width: 20 cm Soil: gritty, well drained

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 adenocephala has rosettes of slightly hairy leaves, bright green. The flowers can be anything from white to quite deep pink, in small clusters on short stems above the rosettes.
		Androsace brahmaputrae var. brahmaputra is a very rare variety of a species that is rarely seen in cultivation. The variety aurita has yellow flowers, and comes from dry areas of high mountains, but var. brahamaputra comes from a wetter area further west, and has white flowers (pink according to one authority). The rosettes are larger than those of var. aurita, but are similarly covered in fine hairs.
		Androsace carnea subsp. rosea can be woody and tifted forming loose, spreading rosettes. Flowers in umbels are open, cup-shaped, white (or pink) with yellow eyes. It is actually a subspecies of A. carnea but is a more vigorous form with larger rosettes and flowers.
		Androsace carnea SDR6357 has short-stemmed umbels of pink flowers, each with a yellow eye, over a cushion or mat of loose rosettes of evergreen, linear foliage.
		Androsace flavescens comes from a rather dry region of Xinjiang, as well in Pakistan, but in the shady rock crevices where it grows there is normally some water nearby. It makes mats of green rosettes, very slightly hairy, with good clusters of yellow-centred white flowers on short stems.
		Androsace minor is sometimes referred to as Androsace rigida var. minor, and it is certainly similar to A. rigida, with bright green rosettes and short-stemmed clusters of bright pink flowers with yellow centres that become red after the flowers are fertilised. It comes from a fairly dry area of Sichuan, where it grows in meadows and under scrub, at alpine to high alpine altitudes.
		Androsace rigida makes wide-spreading mats of rosettes of neat green foliage, with delicate, soft pink flowers in small clusters on short stems.
		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.
		Androsace sarmentosa var. watkinsii is from the western Sichuan Province and bears umbels of many pink or white flowers above a neat rosette.
		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.
		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.
		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.
		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.
		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.