Erigeron trifidus

Perennial of the Asteraceae family, native to the mountains of western North America, from the Canadian Rockies to the United States, where it colonizes rocky ridges, scree, and exposed gravelly slopes, generally between 2,000 and 3,500 meters.

It forms a very dense and low cushion, rarely more than 8 to 12 cm in height, with foliage finely divided into three lobes themselves subdivided, of a grayish-green, giving the plant an almost mossy texture from a distance. The floral stems are slender, erect, each bearing a solitary capitulum with pale pink to whitish-pink ligules, arranged in a crown around a large bright yellow disc.

In its natural habitat, its flowering extends from July to August depending on the altitude. In cultivation, it often blooms as early as June.

It is the finely trilobed foliage, almost similar to that of a small anemone, that immediately distinguishes this variety from other forms of the compositus group.

In rock gardens, it requires perfect drainage, a lean and stony substrate, in full exposure. It dreads stagnant winter humidity more than the cold.