A perennial of the Brassicaceae family, Draba rigida is native to the Caucasus and eastern Anatolia, where it colonizes rocks and high-altitude screes in full exposure. The variety imbricata is distinguished by its particularly tight and overlapping leaves, giving the stems of each rosette an almost scaly appearance, evoking tiny vegetal columns.
It forms a dense and firm hemispherical cushion, with great architectural clarity, composed of countless small rosettes of rigid, bright green to dark green leaves, ciliated on the edges. The cushion can reach about fifteen centimeters in diameter while remaining very compact and domed, with a remarkable regularity rarely found to this degree in the genus.
The flowers are bright yellow, with four well-opened petals, borne on short stems that emerge directly from the cushion at the time of flowering. In its natural habitat, its flowering extends from May to July depending on the altitude. In cultivation, it generally occurs in April-May, covering the cushion with a scattering of bright golden dots.
It requires absolute drainage, a poor mineral substrate, full sun exposure, and protection against prolonged winter moisture. Cultivation in an alpine trough on limestone gravel or in a rock crevice suits it ideally.