Description
Pterocephalus –
There are about 25 species of annual, perennial and evergreen shrubs in this genus. They occur on rocky slopes, roadsides, and waste ground from the Mediterranean, and tropical Africa to Central Asia, the Himalayas, and Western China. They have opposite, simple, smooth edged or pinnatifid leaves, sometimes with scalloped margins. They are grown for their scabiosa-like, pink or mauve flower heads, held on long stems in summer, and attractive, papery seed heads that follow. P. perennis, the only species widely grown, is suitable for a rock garden or the front of a border.
Grow in any well drained, light soil with a little dolomite lime, in full sun.
P. perennia – P. parnassi – This evergreen, cushion forming perennial from Greece grows 3-4″ tall and 8-12″ wide. It produces opposite, ovate to fiddle shaped, hairy, gray green leaves, to 1 ½” long, scalloped at the edges. During summer on long stems it carries solitary, dense, flattened heads of tubular, pale pinkish purple flowers, to 1 ½” across, they are followed by papery seed heads.
Zones 5-7
