Distributed from Western Europe to Asia Minor and Eastern Siberia . It grows on light, moderately dry places, on soils rich in mineral substances - in light deciduous forests and on their edges, on forest glades and among bushes. One of the three types of lungfish found in the European part of Russia.
The plant is from 10 to 50 cm high, it differs from other species by its soft, velvety, slightly sticky pubescence. Stem erect, sometimes glandular, at inflorescence forks. Leaves basal shirokolantsetovidnye-ovate, short-pointed, gradually tapering to the petiole. Stem leaves oblong-ovate, lanceolate, with a semi-umbilical base. The upper side of the leaf is glandular in some places, the lower one is velvety pubescent, lighter. Bisexual flowers , regular, grow on glandular stalks in the leaf axils. Collected in thick curls. Calyx half apart, wide-bell-shaped, funnel-shaped corolla. The fruit is a dark brown nut.
Blossoms as soon as the snow melts (April-May). The color of the flower changes: first, the flower is pink, then purple, then blue. After the end of flowering, basal rosettes of the leaves of the Lunaria begin to develop. The leaves are kept green until autumn.
In the early spring of the leaves you can prepare a vitamin salad, soup. In the summer, leaves can be applied to small wounds and ulcers. Flowers give the bees the first bribe, until the bulk of the plant honey plants has blossomed.
