#alpine botany

• Aethionema — A genus of annual or perennial herbaceous or subshrubby plants belonging to the Brassicaceae (Cruciferae) family, primarily native to the limestone and rocky regions of the Mediterranean basin and Asia Minor. These plants are structurally characterized by often fleshy, glaucous leaves, dense racemose inflorescences made of small decorative pink, purple, or white flowers, and uniquely flattened silicles, being frequently cultivated in alpine rock gardens across temperate zones.
• Arctous — A taxonomic genus of perennial plants in the family Ericaceae, comprising a small number of dwarf, prostrate, deciduous shrub species distributed throughout subarctic, alpine, and circumboreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Structurally, the genus Arctous was evolutionarily separated from Arctostaphylos by its thin, serrated leaves that fall in autumn after turning a brilliant bright red, and by its juicy, non-stony drupe fruits.