Small perennial mat-forming plant of the Asteraceae family, dioecious as its name suggests, forming dense and compact mats by creeping stolons. Very wide distribution, circumboreal and arctic-alpine, covering all of northern and mountainous Europe, northern Asia, and North America, descending south along mountain ranges — Alps, Pyrenees, Carpathians, Scandinavia. In France, mainly in alpine and subalpine grasslands, heather moorlands, dry acidophilous mountain grasslands, on poor and well-drained siliceous substrates.
Plant 5 to 20 cm tall during flowering, forming basal rosettes with spatulate leaves, green and glabrous on the upper side, densely tomentose and whitish underneath — this characteristic woolly coating earning it the vernacular name of cat's foot, evoking the plant's velvety softness. Numerous creeping stolons producing daughter rosettes and ensuring effective vegetative propagation. Erect flowering stems bearing linear decurrent cauline leaves. Capitula grouped in tight terminal corymbs, without ligules, composed only of tubular flowers — male plants bearing capitula with white or slightly pinkish rounded involucral bracts at the top, female plants with narrower and more pointed bracts, often more intensely colored. Strict dioecy implies that both sexes must be present nearby to ensure sexual reproduction, although vegetative propagation is generally predominant.
Easy cultivation in rock gardens and as ground cover for sunny and well-drained positions, on any poor and well-drained substrate. Alpine character plant perfectly accommodating harsh winters but suffering from excess winter moisture in lowlands. Ornamental interest in its modest but charming spring flowering, and especially in its persistent silvery foliage forming dense and regular mats with prolonged decorative effect.