Mutellina adonidifolia

Mutellina adonidifolia, the alpine lovage or large alpine lovage, is an aromatic perennial herb in the Apiaceae family native to the higher mountain ranges of central and southern Europe, including the Alps, Pyrenees, Carpathians and Balkan ranges. Plants form a compact rosette of finely divided, dark green, fern-like leaves with linear ultimate segments, arising from a stout taproot and short rhizome. From midsummer slender, mostly leafless flowering stems rise 15 to 40 centimetres tall, terminating in dense compound umbels of small white to pinkish flowers that exude a strong celery- or parsley-like fragrance and attract many alpine insects. The fruits are small, ribbed, oblong schizocarps. The species inhabits alpine and subalpine meadows, snowbed communities and stony grasslands on both calcareous and siliceous soils, typically between 1,500 and 2,800 metres elevation, where it is regarded as an important component of nutritious alpine pasture.