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The type species is a dwarf perennial endemic to the central Pyrenees, found in crevices of limestone rocks and shaded cliffs between 1,800 and 3,000 meters, where it forms small, tight, elongated cushions characteristic of its closely imbricated rosettes, giving the tuft a cylindrical appearance evocative of its epithet. Garden hybrids involving Androsace cylindrica , often crossed with Androsace hirtella or other nearby Pyrenean species, have been developed to combine the vigor and adaptability of their parents while retaining the charm of compact cushions with generous flowering.
These hybrids form dense and regular cushion tufts, with evergreen gray-green foliage covered with fine silvery hairs giving it a characteristic downy appearance. The flowers, borne in umbels on short stems, are white to pale pink with a yellow or pink eye, produced abundantly in spring, generally in April-May under sheltered cultivation, a little later outdoors.
They are cultivated in pots in a very mineral and calcareous substrate, very well-drained, under cold shelter in winter to protect not from frost but from excessive moisture. Exemplary specialist plants, they are regularly featured in alpine plant exhibitions and are highly prized by members of British and French alpine societies for the geometric perfection of their cushions and the abundance of their white flowering.