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King of the Alps

King of the Alps

Blue Tiglav beauty

High in the mountains, on gravelly meadows and in rocky crevices, the King of the Alps grows in cushions. This plant also got its name from Slovenia's highest peak.
The King of the Alps is a cushion plant with light blue flowers. It grows on gravelly meadows and in rocky crevices in the high mountain range.

 

 

 

King of the Alps (Eritrichium nanum)

Size
  • up to 5 cm in height, it spreads out in width
Blooming period
  • July - August
Growing site
  • gravel, rocky crevices
Distribution

  • Alps, Karavanke
   
Kingdom
  • Plantae
Phylum
  • angiosperms
Class
  • dicotyledons
Order
  • Boraginale
Family
  • Boraginaceae
Genus
  • Eritrichium
Species
  • King of the Alps

 

The King of the Alps is a flower that grows from three to six centimeters high. It has short, densely leafy flowering and non-flowering shoots. The basal leaves are oval-lanceolate. The corolla tube is narrow. The flowers are star-shaped and have five petals. The tubular corolla has lanceolate teeth. It blooms in July and August.

Gentian grows individually on rocky slopes and dry pastures, mostly on limestone-rich soils. It is primarily found in association with Dwarf pillow sedge, and occasionally alongside the Triglav rose, at altitudes ranging from 1900 to 2700 m.

This blue high mountain range plant grows in the Julian Alps, and less frequently in the Karavanke and Kamnik-Savinja Alps.

DO YOU KNOW?

  1. The classic habitat of the Triglav gentian in Slovenia is the southern slope of Triglav.