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No alpine flower is more fragrant than the daphne, whose delicate perfume is often detected before the actual plant is seen. The bright pink, low-growing Daphne cneorum and taller, woody-stemmed D. mezereum are both lime-loving plants, while the straggly D. striata is also found among crystalline rocks.

If one mountain flower could be said to represent the Alps it would have to be the edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum), its woolly grey-white bracts creating a distinctive star-shaped head on a slender stem. Growing in clusters, and favouring limestone and schist, it can be found in rocky places up to 3400m, but is equally at home on meadows as low as 1700m.

Much more showy than the edelweiss, the moss campion (Silene acaulis) forms a dense cushion of minute leaves out of which a mass of pink to bright red flowers appear. The white Swiss rock jasmine (Androsace helvetica) also produces a tight cushion which may grow to 15cm across. It grows on limestone, on rocky ridges and screes up to 3500m and comes into flower between May and August, while A. alpina, the alpine rock jasmine has a mat of white flowers blending to a bluey-pink flush. This is found among granite rocks and screes and has been discovered at a little over 4000m.