Tofieldia pusilla(Michx.) Pers.

Scotch false asphodel

WFO wfo-0000748635 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Tofieldia pusilla, photographed by F Quiec
fig. a F Quiec, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-06-10 / obs. 205700682
Tofieldia pusilla, photographed by Alan Weakley
fig. b Alan Weakley, CC0 1.0 / obs. 149340025
Tofieldia pusilla, photographed by Erin Springinotic
fig. c Erin Springinotic, CC0 1.0 / obs. 161535409
Tofieldia pusilla, photographed by Erin Springinotic
fig. d Erin Springinotic, CC0 1.0 / obs. 161517516
Tofieldia pusilla, photographed by Erin Springinotic
fig. e Erin Springinotic, CC0 1.0 / obs. 161394931
Tofieldia pusilla, photographed by Erin Springinotic
fig. f Erin Springinotic, CC0 1.0 / obs. 160935113
Tofieldia pusilla, photographed by Jens-Christian Svenning
fig. g Jens-Christian Svenning, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 145899686
Tofieldia pusilla, photographed by Jens-Christian Svenning
fig. h Jens-Christian Svenning, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 145942127

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 41 botanical countries

Regions where Tofieldia pusilla is native: Buryatiya, Chita, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Magadan, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Austria, Czechia-Slovakia, East European Russia, Finland, Føroyar, France, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, North European Russia, Norway, Poland, Spain, Svalbard, Sweden, Switzerland, Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Greenland, Labrador, Manitoba, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Ontario, Québec, Saskatchewan, Yukon BuryatiyaChitaKamchatkaKhabarovskKrasnoyarskMagadanWest SiberiaYakutiyaAustriaCzechia-SlovakiaEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyIcelandItalyNorth European RussiaNorwayPolandSpainSvalbardSwedenSwitzerlandAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaGreenlandLabradorManitobaMichiganMinnesotaMontanaNewfoundlandNorthwest TerritoriesNunavutOntarioQuébecSaskatchewanYukon Føroyar
Native distribution of Tofieldia pusilla, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Austria AUT EUROPE
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
Føroyar FOR
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Iceland ICE
Italy ITA
North European Russia RUN
Norway NOR
Poland POL
Spain SPA
Svalbard SVA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
British Columbia BRC
Greenland GNL
Labrador LAB
Manitoba MAN
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Montana MNT
Newfoundland NFL
Northwest Territories NWT
Nunavut NUN
Ontario ONT
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
Yukon YUK
Buryatiya BRY ASIA-TEMPERATE
Chita CTA
Kamchatka KAM
Khabarovsk KHA
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Magadan MAG
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 132 in flower of 167 examined

Peak flowering in Jun. Each bar is the share of Tofieldia pusilla observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 132 of 167 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 8 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 15 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Abama pusilla (Michx.) Raf.
  • Anthericum calyculatum Pall.
  • Isidrogalvia borealis Steud.
  • Narthecium boreale Wahlenb.
  • Narthecium pusillum Michx.
  • Phalangium minimum Hill
  • Tofieldia alpina Hoppe & Sternb.
  • Tofieldia borealis (Wahlenb.) Wahlenb.
  • Tofieldia calyculata subsp. capitata (Hoppe) K.Richt.
  • Tofieldia calyculata subvar. capitata (Hoppe) Nyman
  • Tofieldia calyculata var. capitata (Hoppe) Wimm. & Grab.
  • Tofieldia capitata Hoppe
  • Tofieldia capitata Raf.
  • Tofieldia minima (Hill) Druce
  • Tofieldia palustris var. capitata (Hoppe) Hoppe

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.