Arnica
Arnica: Sowing, planting and harvest calendar
Mountain arnica, Arnica montana, is a European herbaceous perennial in the daisy family. It is associated with meadows, pastures and other open habitats, particularly in mountain regions. Its name is familiar through traditional preparations, yet the living plant has a distinctive appearance of its own: a low leaf rosette and stems carrying large golden yellow flower heads. The genus Arnica contains other species too; this portrait concerns mountain arnica.At the base, oval to elongated leaves gather into a rosette. Their edges are entire, and their arrangement creates a compact presence close to the ground. Stem leaves occur in opposite pairs, usually with only a few pairs along each stem. The flowering stem may be simple or have a small number of upper branches. Usually only a few tens of centimetres tall, the plant retains much of its leafy bulk in the basal rosette rather than forming a dense bush.Flowering takes…
