Authors: L.  

Botanical Description

Forms mats of small rosettes of 1.5-2.5cm long fleshy, orbicular-spathulate leaves which are entire or bluntly toothed in the upper half. Flowering stems 15cm tall bearing small panicles of white flowers with 2.5-4mm long petals having a yellow patch at the base. In the wild it occurs in two distinct forms. S.c. var. capillipes is smaller with broadly scalloped spoon-shaped leaves and flowers sprinkled with purple dots. Var. subintegra has somewhat larger bluntly toothed leaves and flowers with two instead of one yellow spot on each petal. Southern Europe from the Carpathians to the Pyrenees, in wooded subalpine mountainous areas often on boulders. S. cuneifolia is a pretty little carpeter which will cover the ground in any odd corner of the rock garden in shade or half-shade. There is also S.c. 'Variegata', which has yellow blotched leaves.

a, S. bryoides; b, S. cuneifolia; c, S. paniculata; d, S. rotundifolia; e, S. sibirica;