Alpine saw-wort

Saussurea alpina, the alpine saw-wort, is a rhizomatous perennial herb in the family Asteraceae with a circumboreal-arctic-alpine distribution across northern Eurasia, Greenland, and parts of North America. Plants reach 10-45 cm in height with simple or sparingly branched, somewhat cottony stems arising from a slender creeping rhizome. Basal and lower-stem leaves are lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 5-15 cm long, dark green above and white-tomentose beneath, with shallowly toothed or nearly entire margins and tapered bases; stem leaves are smaller and sessile. The inflorescence is a compact terminal cluster of 2-8 discoid flower heads, each 1.0-1.5 cm across, with purple to pink-purple tubular florets emerging from imbricate, often purple-tinged involucral bracts that are characteristically pubescent. Flowering occurs from July to September. Fruits are small ribbed achenes crowned with a feathery pappus that aids wind dispersal. The species inhabits damp arctic and alpine tundra, montane grasslands, snow beds, rock ledges, and acidic mires, typically above the treeline.