Phylum: Magnoliophyta - Class: Equisetopsida - Order: Ranunculales - Family: Ranunculaceae
With white petals and prominent yellow stamens, the silky white flowers of Pulsatilla alpina are hard to miss, especially because they do not have such a drooping habit as many other flowers in this genus.
Plants grow to a height of 15 to 30cm, and the flowers are typically 4 to 6cm across with between five and eight petal-like sepals and no actual petals).
Found at altitudes of 1200 to 2700 metres above sea level, Pulsatilla alpina needs rocky limestine- or chalk-based shallow soils and tends to favour open grassland slopes; however, we have also seen good colonies of these lovely wildflowers on well-drained woodland edges.
Alpine Pasqueflower is native to the mountains of central Europe.
Pulsatilla, the genus name, comes from Latin and means 'beaten about' - a reference to the wind-swept habitats in which these wildflowers grow. (They are sometimes referred to as Alpine Windflowers.) The specific epithet alpina also refers to the alpine habitats in which these flowers are found.
The photographs shown on this page were taken in Slovenia at the end of May.
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