Mountain Avens

Dryas octopetala

Summary 2

Dryas octopetala (common names include mountain avens, white dryas, and white dryad) is an Arctic–alpine flowering plant in the family Rosaceae. It is a small prostrate evergreen subshrub forming large colonies. The specific epithet octopetala derives from the Greek octo (eight) and petalon (petal), referring to the eight petals of the flower, an unusual number in the Rosaceae, where five is the normal number. However, flowers with up to 16 petals also occur naturally.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Josh*m, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/gravitywave/6007651182/
  2. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryas_octopetala

More Info

iNat Map