Blue Mallow

Description:

Difficult to be sure of the identity of this species, as there are two members of this genus around, A. alpina and A. alliariae and both very common in Jura range. Because of the habitat (see further), I tend to run it as the former in my archives, but as I missed to look for more details, I'll keep it here in genus level. The plant is about 60-70 cm tall, with attractive pink dense inflorescences easily catching the eye on montane slopes. Basal leaves are large (12+cm large), glabrous and kidney-shaped, while the leaf margin is toothed.

Habitat:

Adenostyles alpina and A. alliariae are both fairly common in Jura range, as well as some other montane ranges in eastern France (Alpes, Mt Ventoux). They both grow from the montane to the subalpine level (from 1,000 to 2,500 m) but find their optimum at the subalpine level (1500-2000m) - easily provided on pastures on top of Jura range, like here. Found flowering on edges of grasslands, on rocky escarpment on top of that mountain, in August 2021, in High Jura natural reserve, at about 1550m of altitude.

Notes:

1. A. alpine thrives best in very sunny rocky escarpments and poor soils; while A. alliariae looks for shade and humidity - which is why I though this would more likely be A. alpina. 2. The interesting thing that year (2021) was that in August, these high altitude pastures were not only very lush green and rich, but also in flower - flowers were everywhere, all kinds of them, and quite late in the season - and totally opposite of the situation today, when these pastures are very dry, looking totally burnt.