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 sarmentosa (studiosorum) subsp. primuloides 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.