Androsace globifera - Cushion Rock Jasmine

Cushion Rock Jasmine is a perennial herb, forming dense cushions of silvery-leaved rosettes. Shoots are dark brown, internodes 3-8 mm. Leaf rosettes are spherical, 4-8 mm in diameter. Leaves are stalkless, densely overlapping. Outer leaves are brown, elliptic-oblong to nearly obovate, 2.5-3.5 x 1.5-2 mm, becoming hairless or with few long hairs near tip; midvein ± raised below. Inner leaves are spoon-shaped to linear, 4-5 x 0.8-1.5 mm, densely white hairy on distal part of both surfaces, tip blunt to pointed. Flowering stems are 2--3 mm, 1- or 2-flowered; bracts oblong, about 1 mm. Flower-stalks are 4-10 mm, spreading velvet-hairy. Calyx about 3 mm, parted to 1/3; lobes broadly ovate, tip rounded to blunt. Flowers are pinkish, 6-8 mm in diameter, petals broadly obovate, about 3 mm, tip rounded. Cushion Rock Jasmine is found in the Himalayas, from Pakistan to Bhutan, at altitudes of 3600-4500 m. Flowering: June-July.