Mountain avens
Latin name: Dryas octopetala
Height: 3 - 10cm in flower
When: Flowers May - July
Where: Mountains, particularly on limestone, for example Ben Lui and Ben Lawers
You'll find mountain avens tucked high up on the rocky outcrops of limestone hills like Ben Lui. As its name suggests the flowers of this distant relative of the rose have a ruff of eight delicate white petals surrounding a spiky yolk-yellow centre.
Its tiny, oak-shaped leaves are actually evergreen, and despite their glossy green uppers are covered with downy white hairs underneath - both adaptations designed to help it withstand the winter ice and snow.
Late in the summer the flowers are followed by spiralling fluffy white seedheads, reminiscent of a tidy version of old man's beard.
