Scientific Name: Acaena inermis 'Purpurea'
Common Name: purple sheep's burr
Family Name: Rosaceae
Origin: Australia / New Zealand
Hardiness Zone: Zone 4: (-34 to -29 °C)
Plant Type: Ground cover, Herbaceous perennial
Mature Size: 0.1 - 0.2m x 0.3 - 0.6m (height x width)
Habit: Horizontal, Spreading
Form: Creeping / Mat-like
Texture: Medium - fine
Landscape Uses: Alpine, Container planting, Ground cover, Mixed shrub border, Rock garden, Spring interest
Exposure: Full sun
Soil or Media: Rocky or gravelly or dry, Well-drained
Leaves: Compound, Alternate, Soft flexible, Glabrous, Odd-pinnate, Obovate, Orbicular, Dentate
Flowers: Spike, White, Jun-Jul
Fruit: Achene, (Accessory tissue), Brown, Sep
Key ID Features:
Mat forming sub-shrub with rhizomes and eventually runners; leaves alternate, pinnately compound, most 2-7cm long with 7-11(-15) ovate-orbicular leaflets, most 4-7mm long x 3-5mm wide (larger near the ends), margin dentate, little purple to greyish bronze to pale olive, nearly sessile (petiolules <1mm long); inflorescences, compact, head-like, round, 1-2cm wide, with about 20 apetalous florets.