Native to the high mountains of Europe, it is cultivated as an alpine garden plant, being considered easy to grow in well drained soil in a sunny position.

Its leaves are arranged in rosettes, each leaf being 5–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in) long and usually greyish green in colour.

[5] Six subspecies have been identified, with distinct distributions in the high mountains of Europe:[5] Androsace vitaliana is native to the high mountains of Europe in Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland and a small part of Austria.

It is regarded as easy to grow in well drained but fertile soil in a sunny position.

It can be propagated easily by removing rosettes with attached roots from a plant in late summer and growing them on.