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Persicaria vivipara — long classified in the genus Polygonum, now attached to the Polygonaceae — is a circumpolar and orophyte perennial, present in the mountains of Europe, Asia, and North America, as well as in arctic regions. In Europe, it is common in the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Carpathians, and the Scandinavian countries, generally between 1,500 and 3,000 meters, in alpine meadows, Nardus heaths, snow hollows, and high-altitude path edges.
It forms small low tufts, with flowering stems rarely exceeding 10 cm. The basal leaves are elongated, lanceolate, with a dark green blade, slightly revolute at the edges, and often whitish underneath. The stems bear reduced, sessile leaves.
The terminal spike, slender and erect, bears at its upper part small white to pale pink flowers. But the most striking feature of the species, clearly visible here, is the production of reddish-brown bulbils in the lower part of the spike, sometimes accompanied by tiny already-leaved plantlets. These bulbils often largely replace the flowers: an adaptation to remarkable viviparity in environments where the growing season is too short to ensure seed maturation.
In its natural habitat, its flowering extends from June to August depending on altitude. In cultivation, it appreciates fresh, well-drained soil, in full sun to partial shade, and naturally integrates into a rock garden with a mountainous character.