eryngium alpinum

Alpine Sea Holly (Eryngium alpinum)

The biological form of Eryngium alpinum is hemicryptophyte scapose, as its overwintering buds are situated just below the soil surface and the floral axis is more or less erect with a few leaves.

Eryngium alpinum I have saved almost to the last, not because it is common, which it is, but rather that to my mind it is the loveliest representative of the Umbelliferae family (which includes, strange though it may seem, the carrot).