Help needed from the experts

[shelagh]

I've been trying to name all the plants seen around Zermatt and have some queries so I thought why not ask the experts.

[tonyg]

Shelagh - the first one has me stumped ... perhaps a heiraceum sp but I cannot find a match in Flora Helvetica.

I think the primula has to be Primula hirsuta

The one labelled Minuartia sedoides is not that species - Minuartia verna perhaps

1673 - I think is also Minuartia verna but might be M laricifolia

174 - Probably Saxifraga biflora but might be the hybrid with Saxifraga oppositifolia called S x kochii which I have seen at nearby Saas Fee.

103 - Anemone baldensis which I saw in profusion in a ski piste area below Sunegga a few years ago

54 - IS Minuartia sedoides

34 - Tricky when we cannot see foliage but perhaps it is Arenaria ciliata (or A biflora.)

Great fun identifying plants - sometimes think we learn the most about the ones we cannot immediately name because we spend more time looking at them!

[Maggi Young]

Could the first one be a furry little Tanacetum? 

[tonyg]

No Tanacetum like that in Switzerland, they're all giants by comparison ... and less hairy.

It might be Achillea nana which is similarly hairy, dwarf, found in the area and late flowering, so would be just a rosette of leaves early in the season.

[Maggi Young]

Hmm, yes, I thought Tanacetum wasn't the right name... I think Achillea was what I was after.That would be suitably furry in its early state.

[tonyg]

Thanks to Harry Jans here is a picture of Achillea nana as seen near Zermatt in 2009

http://www.jansalpines.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3109

[shelagh]

Thank you both. 

I must admit I get in mess with Minuartia's and Arenaria's. I did think the Primula was hirsuta but when we went back to check it had been well and truly gobbled by something.