We take a look at the beautiful flowers that make their home at altitude
Britain’s mountain summits are all below 1,400m and are conducive to plant growth, so species such as the tiny rock whitlowgrass Draba norvegica, a member of the cabbage family, can be found in rock crevices there.
Species that tolerate harsh conditions at that altitude tend to form a highly specialised community and include mosses, ferns and sedges, as well as some of Britain’s rarest Arctic–Alpine wildflowers, like Alpine gentian Gentiana nivalis and Alpine fleabane Erigeron boreali
Scotland’s Ben Lawers (1,200m) is famous for its mountain flora that survive prolonged sub-zero temperatures and snow cover, high winds, high rainfall, low nutrients and a short growing season.
These high- altitude communities are composed of highly adapted species, such as the rare drooping saxifrage Saxifraga cernua, which has forsaken flowers and the uncertainty of pollination for tiny buds called bulbils that are washed away in rain and grow into new plants.
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- Woodland flowers: 12 enchanting species to spot
Main image: Alpine fleabane Erigeron boreali by Enrico Blasutto – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4968413