Androsace septentrionalis, also known as pygmy-flower rock-jasmine, is a species of small plant that grows in disturbed areas and open ground in the northern hemisphere. It is widespread in Europe, Asia, and North America from Arctic areas to as far south as northern Mexico, India, and Pakistan. The species quite variable in the size of its flowering stems, but has just one rosette of leaves. Each plant will live for one or two years and die after flowering.
Description Androsace septentrionalis is a highly variable plant from hardly noticeable to substantial in size, but does not form a mat. Plants can be annuals or biennials with all their basal leaves in a single rosette. The leaves are attached by a very short petiole or directly without a leaf stem. They measure 5 to 35 millimeters long with a width of 3 to 10 mm and can be hairless or hairy, but usually ciliate, fringed with hairs along the leaf edge. Leaves have a oblanceolate to spatulate shape; like a reversed spear head or a spoon shape.
Plants usually have one to five scapes, leafless floral stems, but can occasionally have as many as 10. They typically measure 1 to 10 centimeters long, but will sometime reach 30 cm. Each inflorescence has as few as five or as many as 30 flowers. The flowers are small, measuring just 4–6 mm across, and with white or pink petals.
The fruit is a capsule measuring 3 to 5 mm. Inside there are numerous seeds each 0.5 to 1 mm.
Taxonomy Androsace septentrionalis was given its scientific name by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. It is classified as part of the genus Androsace in the family Primulaceae. It has no accepted subspecies or varieties according to Plants of the World Online, but has synonyms.
Table of Synonyms Name Year Rank Notes Amadea diffusa 1916 species = het. Amadea puberulenta 1916 species = het. Androsace acaulis 1844 species = het. Androsace arguta 1900 species = het. Androsace diffusa 1898 species = het. Androsace elongata 1823 species = het., nom. illeg. Androsace glandulosa 1907 species = het. Androsace gormanii 1900 species = het. Androsace lactea 1773 species = het., nom. illeg. Androsace lactiflora 1841 species = het., nom. illeg. Androsace linearis 1829 species = het. Androsace multiflora 1779 species ≡ hom., nom. superfl. Androsace pinetorum 1900 species = het. Androsace puberulenta 1903 species = het. Androsace septentrionalis var. diffusa 1905 variety = het. Androsace septentrionalis f. exscapa 1824 form = het. Androsace septentrionalis var. glandulosa 1922 variety = het. Androsace septentrionalis subsp. glandulosa 1944 subspecies = het. Androsace septentrionalis var. gormannii 1909 variety = het. Androsace septentrionalis f. latifolia 1981 form = het. Androsace septentrionalis var. pinetorum 1905 variety = het. Androsace septentrionalis var. puberulenta 1905 variety = het. Androsace septentrionalis subsp. puberulenta 1944 subspecies = het. Androsace septentrionalis subsp. robusta 1944 subspecies = het. Androsace septentrionalis var. robusta 1922 variety = het. Androsace septentrionalis var. subintegra 1905 variety = het. Androsace septentrionalis var. subulifera 1886 variety = het. Androsace septentrionalis subsp. subulifera 1944 subspecies = het. Androsace septentrionalis subsp. subumbellata 1944 subspecies = het. Androsace septentrionalis var. subumbellata 1896 variety = het. Androsace septentrionalis var. typica 1905 variety ≡ hom., not validly publ. Androsace subulifera 1906 species = het. Androsace subumbellata 1898 species = het. Douglasia ochotensis subsp. gormanii 1975 subspecies = het. Primula pinetorum 1904 species = het. Primula septentrionalis 1891 species ≡ hom. Primula septentrionalis var. subulifera 1904 variety = het. Notes: ≡ homotypic synonym; = heterotypic synonym
Names Androsace septentrionalis is known by several common names including pygmy-flower rock-jasmine, pygmyflower rockjasmine, rock jasmine, northern rockjasmine, pygmyflower, and northern fairy candelabra.
Range and habitat Androsace septentrionalis is a very widely distributed species that is native to North America, Europe, and temperate Asia. In Europe it is native as far west as France, but is not found in the Low Countries or the British Isles. In Central Europe it grows widely, but is not found in Hungary. To the south it is also found in Italy and Romania. To the north it is part of the flora of Denmark and the Scandinavian Peninsula and Finland. It grows in every part of Eastern Europe except for on the Crimean Peninsula. It reaches as far south as Georgia and neighboring Armenia.
In western Asia it is somewhat wide spread growing in western Siberia, Altai Krai, and Yakutia, as well as to 72° N in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. In Central Asia it is native to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and even Tajikistan. Southwards it crosses over into northern Pakistan and the northwestern part of India in the Western Himalayas. In China it grows in the northern provinces of Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Hebei as well as the country of Mongolia. At the eastern side of Asia it grows throughout the Russian Far East and also in Korea.
The North American population of the species is native to all the far north from Alaska to Greenland. It grows throughout Canada as far east as Quebec and formerly grew in Newfoundland but is locally extinct there. In the contiguous United States found in the western states from the Pacific to as far east as Minnesota and Texas, but not in the central or southern states of the Great Plains. In Mexico it is native to just three northern states, Nuevo León, Coahuila, and Sonora.
Androsace septentrionalis is found in open areas, especially sandy, gravelly, or disturbed ground. It grows in the tundra, forests, grasslands, and shrublands.
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