Prostrate to upright evergreen shrubs with tiny elliptic, densely scaly leaves. The small flowers are pale magenta-rose to purple and appear in late winter to very early spring. A great species for its frost resistant early flowers. Most forms very difficult if not impossible to cultivate. Parvifolium Group from coastal NE Asia is the exception. Native to a wide variety of habitats over a huge range in the circumpolar regions of North America and N Eurasia
1978/017 C. Desch (-20). Wild collected from Mt. Washington, New Hampshire.
1978/066 (Parvifolium Group) Glendoick (-25\R2\2). This is a fine upright selection with rose-purple flowers in late winter.
