Dwarf Gentian (Gentiana pumila)

Description:
It is a low, cushion-forming perennial up to 6 cm tall. Basal leaves are linear-lanceolate (narrow!), papillose-margined, acute. The stem has 1-3 pairs of small narrow leaves. Calyx teeth are linear-lanceolate, pointed; corolla is tubular-funnelform, up to 30 mm long, with a long corolla tube, the spreading lobes dark blue. The corolla tube is slightly darker (MFS notes lighter). It grows on snowbeds where snow has recently melted – in mountains this is usually mid-summer (gentians mostly flowering above the timberline will be seen flowering from July to September) and specifically on limestone substrate.
Occurrences are in the Eastern Alps, rarely also in the Apennines. In our country it grows in the Julian Alps, less frequently in the Karawanks and Kamnik-Savinja Alps.
A similar species is the spring gentian, which has ovate leaves (wider) and grows also below the timberline.

Description contributed by user malenka.

Flowers are not reviewed by experts/botanists, so errors are possible.