Eritrichium nanum (L.) Schrad. ex Gaudin - Boraginaceae - Alpine forget-me-not, king-of-the-Alps, **Himmelsherold**

Subshrub growing in dense cushions with numerous sterile rosettes, native to the European Alps above 2000m altitude, but also from Alaska to the Pacific Northwest as closely related subspecies; leaves silky-glossy, shaggy, lanceolate, 0.5-1 cm long; flowering stems 1-6cm tall, multiflorous, each flower with a bract; corolla sky-blue, with broadly rounded, spreading tips and yellow pharyngeal scales, 5-8mm in diameter; fruitlets approximately 2mm long, with winged and toothed margins.

Eritrichium nanum is often confused with Myosotis alpestris, which blooms at roughly the same time. The difference: Myosotis alpestris grows up to 1300 meters altitude, stems 10-15cm tall, and has ovate to lanceolate basal leaves arranged in rosettes, while Eritrichium nanum has numerous very small leaf rosettes that create a cushion-like appearance. \\
[[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himmelsherold|Eritrichium nanum (de.wikipedia.org)]] retrieved 28 June 2025

|{{anisaldehyde.jpg|anisaldehyde.jpg}} \\ anisaldehyde |{{:14dimethoxybenzene.jpg|1,4-dimethoxybenzene}} \\ 1,4-dimethoxybenzene |{{4-vinylguaiacol.jpg|4-vinylguaiacol}} \\ 4-vinylguaiacol |{{:vanillin.jpg| vanillin}} \\ vanillin |{{:phenylacetaldehyde.jpg|phenylacetaldehyde}} \\ phenylacetaldehyde |{{:eugenol.jpg|eugenol}} \\ eugenol |

The pleasent scent of the flowers is olfactorily dominated by an accord consisting of (headspace %) anisaldehyde (19.0%), 1,4-dimethoxybenzene (7.9%), 4-methoxyacetophenone (4.3%), 4-vinylguaiacol (0.3%), vanillin (0.04%), phenylacetaldehyde (0.05%), and eugenol (0.2%). Other main components of the headspace were benzaldehyde (7.5%) and acetophenone (21.0%). \\
[Meaningful Scents around the World, R.Kaiser, 2006, 43-45 and 230-231]


{{:eritrichium_nanum.jpg}}\\
Eritrichium nanum in the Grandes Rousses (2013), Author: Meneerke bloem
[[https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en|CC BY-SA 3.0]] [[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eritrichium_nanum_004.jpg|Wikimedia Commons]]