How to Grow and Care for Saw-worts

Saussurea japonica (Saussurea japonica) is named after its habitat since Japonica is Latin for Japan. This member of the thistle family has attractive purple flowers that are pollinated by insects including bees.

Tall saw-wort (Saussurea amara) is a relatively unassuming plant that can be best seen when its purple flower tufts bloom during summer. The plant occupies many habitats, including river shores, steppes, forests, and sand dunes.

Saussurea is a genus of about 300 species of flowering plants in the thistle tribe within the daisy family, native to cool temperate and arctic regions of East Asia, Europe, and North America, with the highest diversity in alpine habitats in the Himalayas and East Asia. Common names include saw-wort and snow lotus, the latter used for a number of high altitude species in East Asia. They are perennial herbaceous plants, ranging in height from dwarf alpine species 5–10 cm tall, to tall thistle-like plants up to 3 m tall. The leaves are produced in a dense basal rosette, and then spirally up the flowering stem. The flowers form in a dense head of small capitula, often surrounded by dense white to purple woolly hairs; the individual florets are also white to purple. The wool is densest in the high altitude species, and aids in the thermoregulation of the flowers, minimising frost damage at night and also preventing ultraviolet light damage from the intense high-altitude sunlight. De Candolle named the genus after Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740-1799) and Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure (1767–1845).

Brahma kamal is a high-altitude perennial native to the Himalayan region, thriving in the challenging cold, rocky environment. It has a distinctive crown of purple-pink bracts enveloping its heads, mimicking petals. Bell-shaped and heavily veiled by hair, these bracts protect its small, dome-shaped cluster of flowers from the extremes of its alpine home.

Saussurea grandifolia is a robust perennial. Smartly donning a rosette of large, deeply lobed leaves, it presents a striking figure. Atop sturdy stems, regal, purple flower heads announce its presence in alpine meadows. These inflorescences, key for attracting pollinators, hint at a resilience that allows saussurea grandifolia to thrive in high-altitude, harsh environments.