Requires a deep moist well-drained light or medium lime-free loam in sun or semi-shade. Prefers a cool damp position. Plants resent root disturbance and should be placed in their final positions as soon as possible. Grows well in a rock garden. This plant is placed in a separate genus, as Arctuous alpinus, by some botanists due to its deciduous habit.

Fruit - raw or cooked. Very juicy but slightly bitter. Another report says that they are juicy but insipid. The flavor is much improved by cooking. Not as nice as many other wild fruits, but nor are they unpleasant. The fruit is about 6 - 9mm in diameter, it is not usually produced very freely.

Seed - best sown in a shady position in a greenhouse as soon as it is ripe. Pre-soak dried seed and sow as early in the year as possible. The seed usually germinates in 2 - 3 months at 15°c. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in greenhouse or cold frame for at least their first winter. Plant out in late spring or early summer. Cuttings of side shoots, 5 - 8cm with a heel, August to December in a frame. Takes one year. Division in early spring. Take care because the plant resents root disturbance. Pot the divisions up and keep them in a lightly shaded position in a cold frame or greenhouse until they are growing away actively. Layering in spring.

Mountain moors and stony places on calcareous Alps up to 2500 metres.