This is mountain plant in Europe and I have seen it in flower at 5,000 feet in Austria. It also grows in North Wales at about 1,500 feet in Snowdonia and in Northern Western Scotland on hillsides.

In the far North of Scotland however it grows at sea level. It covers the coastal hillsides near the Bettyhill reserve (North Coast of Scotland) for instance. The Left hand photo was taken on the Burren in the Republic of Ireland which defies all the logic above as it was near sea level (only 200 metres from the sea) and fairly far south in County Clare. The fluffy thing next to the flower is a Dryas seed head.

Apart from the colony in the mountains of Wales and a little in the northern Pennines this is a plant of the far north of Scotland most records coming from the north west in the hills and on the coast. In Ireland most records come from The Burren in the Republic but there are a few in northern Ireland as well.

LHS: Inchnadampf, Scotland 19th June 2006 RHS:The Burren, County Clare, Ireland 12th June 2003

Added on January 24th 2005, updated 15th December 2008, updated 28th March 2010