A choice little Greek alpine forming a low, compact cushion of slender green foliage, with small clusters of delicate pink to rosy flowers held above the mat in summer. Asperula boissieri is native to the mountains of central Greece and the northern Peloponnese, where it occurs in exposed, rocky mountain habitats. The species is now often treated under the name Cynanchica boissieri, although Asperula boissieri remains a familiar and useful name in horticulture. The cushion woodruffs are among my favorite plants for the rock garden, the perfect cushion habit and prolific flowers are really hard to beat.
This is an excellent plant for the rock garden, trough or limestone crevice, particularly where a low-growing plant is needed to soften the edges of rocks without becoming invasive. Give it full sun and a sharply drained, gritty soil; it is well suited to the lean conditions of an alpine bed and should not be kept excessively wet during winter. Its Greek mountain origin also makes it an especially interesting companion to other Balkan and Mediterranean alpines.
The name boissieri honors Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810–1885), the Swiss botanist whose monumental Flora Orientalis documented the plants of the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. Boissier traveled extensively through Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine, Syria and other parts of the region, and his work became one of the foundational floras for the plants of the eastern Mediterranean. Asperula boissieri was published by Boissier in the 1888 supplement to Flora Orientalis
A choice little Greek alpine forming a low, compact cushion of slender green foliage, with small clusters of delicate pink to rosy flowers held above the mat in summer. Asperula boissieri is native to the mountains of central Greece and the northern Peloponnese, where it occurs in exposed, rocky mountain habitats. The species is now often treated under the name Cynanchica boissieri, although Asperula boissieri remains a familiar and useful name in horticulture. The cushion woodruffs are among my favorite plants for the rock garden, the perfect cushion habit and prolific flowers are really hard to beat.
This is an excellent plant for the rock garden, trough or limestone crevice, particularly where a low-growing plant is needed to soften the edges of rocks without becoming invasive. Give it full sun and a sharply drained, gritty soil; it is well suited to the lean conditions of an alpine bed and should not be kept excessively wet during winter. Its Greek mountain origin also makes it an especially interesting companion to other Balkan and Mediterranean alpines.
The name boissieri honors Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810–1885), the Swiss botanist whose monumental Flora Orientalis documented the plants of the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. Boissier traveled extensively through Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine, Syria and other parts of the region, and his work became one of the foundational floras for the plants of the eastern Mediterranean. Asperula boissieri was published by Boissier in the 1888 supplement to Flora Orientalis
