In July, the dark red heads of Nigritella rhellicani (syn: Nigritella nigra ssp. rhellicani) are covering many alpine meadows. In some rare places, the flowers show remarkable colour variatation. After studying the Nigritella hues of the Dolomite Alps, this year I visited the Swiss canton Valais: Near Chandolin there is a place in an altitude of about 2400 m with pink and yellow flowering Nigritella rhellicani. The tableau above shows the colour varieties in both the Dolomites and Switzerland. The yellow flowering forms grow near Chandolin – they obviously miss the anthocyanins, but have other pigments as probably carotenoids. The reasons for this special forms are unknown up to now.
