Wikimedia Commons
Rosaceae
Mountain Avens
Dryas octopetala
Tundra, endurance, ice age survivor.
- Family
- Rosaceae
- Genus
- Dryas
- Native to
- Arctic and alpine regions of the Northern Hemisphere
- Bloom season
- Summer
- Type
- Evergreen mat-forming shrublet
- Height
- 5–15 cm
- Sunlight
- Full sun
- Soil
- Sharply drained, gravelly, alkaline
- Water
- Low
- Hardiness
- 1–6
- Lifespan
- Very long-lived
Did you know
- Mountain avens is one of the very first plants to colonize newly exposed ground after glaciers retreat — a true pioneer species of the post-ice-age world.
- An entire geological period — the 'Younger Dryas' cold snap of about 12,800 years ago — is named after Dryas octopetala because its pollen showed up in sediments from that period.
- The fluffy seed heads look like tiny silver feather dusters and are almost as showy as the flowers themselves.
- Mountain avens fixes nitrogen via root bacteria, helping enrich the bare gravelly soils where it pioneers.
- It's the national flower of Iceland — a fitting symbol for an island shaped by ice and volcanic rock.
Color meanings
White
Resilience in cold