Photos: Patrick Slavin, the Burren

Mountain Avens Dryas octopetala Leaithín Family: Rosaceae Flowering time: May-July. Procumbent dwarf shrub. Native. White flowers with golden stamens, usually 8-petalled. Oblong, sticky-haired sepals. Leathery dark green leaves are oblong, lobed and white-woolly beneath. Low carpeting growth habit. Height: To 8cm. Mountain ledges, crevasses, calcareous grassland, limestone pavements. Mainly found Co. Clare and Galway, also NW and NE Ireland.

Photograph above: Mountain Avens, Dryas octopetala. The Burren, April 2009