Swiss Mountain Leader

This doesn’t flower for very long and the one and only time I’ve seen one is in the French Vanoise National Park. It’s leaf is shaped like a liver and was once considered to be a treatment for liver complaints including hepatitis although there’s no evidence to support this.

This is wild violet and doesn’t have the fragrance that cultivated violets have. It’s quite common in spring in the forests of the Swiss plateau.

This isn’t really an alpine plant at all, it’s found in forest areas around old human settlements typically. It’s interesting as it doesn’t reproduce using seeds like many plants but instead shoots out runners. The spread of the plant is almost solely due to human activity in woodlands.