Authors: L.
A clump-forming perennial up to 30cm in height. Leaves obovate, 4-11cm long, with or without rounded teeth and woolly hairs. Flowers pale violet-blue, sometimes pink or white, 1-1.8cm long, from purple-tinted bracts. Some forms spread widely by adventitious shoots from the roots and can be a nuisance. Europe, mountain slopes, usually alkaline. Plants listed as A.p. subsp. meonantha (syn. A. occidentalis), from Portugal differ from A. pyramidalis by being densely downy and having narrow calyx tubes (the calyces of A. pyramidalis are bell-shaped), A.p. subsp. rotundifolia (syn. A. rotundifolia) has narrow calyces and stolons. A.p. 'Crispa', (syn. A. metallica var. crispa) is a curiously attractive mutant forming cushions of highly twisted and crinkled leaves of a metallic greenish-purple shade. It lacks vigour and needs a rich soil and dividing and replanting the clumps every two or three years.
