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Hairy alpenrose

Hairy alpenrose

Evergreen shrub with red-pink flowers

Hikers admire the shrub with small red-pink flowers from June to August. The hairy alpenrose grows on limestone soil in overgrown scree, in the shrub belt, and among larches at the upper forest line.

Hairy Alpenrose (Rhododendron hirsutum)

Size
  • od 70 do 120 cm v višino
Blooming period
  • junij - avgust
Habitat
  • zrasla melišča, med ruševjem in macesni
Distribution

  • Alpe, Karavnke
   
Kingdom
  • Plantae
Phylum
  • Angiosperms
Class
  • Eudicots
Order
  • Ericales
Family

  • Ericaceae
Genus

  • Rhododendron
Species
  • Rhododendron hirsutum

 

The hairy alpenrose is an evergreen shrub that can grow over a meter tall among alpine shrubs and larches. Its small pink flowers attract the gaze of passing hikers from June to August.

 

The leaf edges are fringed and covered with bristly hairs up to three millimeters long—hence the plant's name.

The hairy alpenrose is a low, evergreen shrub that can grow up to one meter in height, forming a dense crown. Its evergreen leaves, found on short branches, are one to four centimeters long.

At the tip of the shoots, the flowers are arranged in clusters. The corolla is pink, with five petals fused into a bell-shaped flower, each flower about one and a half centimeters wide. The hairy alpenrose blooms from June to August and is pollinated by insects, mainly bumblebees.


The shrub grows on limestone soils in the Alps, Karavanke, and other areas at elevations from 1500 to 2500 meters, though it can sometimes be found at lower altitudes.

 

DID YOU KNOW?

  1. The leaves and nectar contain toxic substances.
  2. An infusion made from the leaves is used in folk medicine.