Usually a perennial but sometimes short lived and behaving as a biennial or annual. Tufted, stems decumbent to ascending, 5-20cm in length. Leaves linear to oblong-lanceolate, 5-15mm long, glaucous. Racemes usually dense, three to fifteen-flowered. Each flower 1.3-2.2cm long, violet, with yellow zones on the palate, rarely entirely yellow, pink or almost white; spurs 8-12mm long. Central and southern European mountains in screes, river gravels and on rocky slopes.
a, L. alpina; b, L. repens; c, L. supina; d, L. tristis;
