The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links
Micranthes lyallii

Lyall's saxifrage, red-stemmed saxifrage

bog saxifrage, Oregon saxifrage

Habit Perennial with well-developed rhizomes, often forming small mats. Strong perennial from a short, woody base, the flowering stems leafless, 3-12 dm. tall, copiously glandular-pubescent above.
Leaves

Leaves all basal, the leaves wedge-shaped to fan-shaped, 10-25 mm. long and nearly as broad, coarsely dentate with 7-9 teeth, with slender petioles of similar length, glabrous or with a few soft, brown hairs.

Leaves basal, 10-20 cm. long, contracted to a broadly-winged petiole, the blades elliptic-oblanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, entire or shallowly toothed, nearly glabrous, but with soft hairs on the petiole margins.

Flowers

Inflorescence, calyx and fruits often bright red; inflorescence a cyme with up to 15 flowers, the peduncles slender, often with linear, entire bracts;

calyx lobed almost to the base, the 5 lobes oblong-lanceolate, 2-3 mm. long, sharply reflexed;

petals 5, white, aging to pink, 2.5-4 mm. long, the blade oblong-oval, rounded to a short, broad claw;

stamens 10, equaling the petals, the filaments white, club-shaped;

carpels often 3-5, fused only 0.5-1 mm., the ovary mostly superior, the carpels tapered to styles less than 1 mm. long.

Inflorescence an elongate panicle, narrow to somewhat diffuse;

calyx 2-3.5 mm. long, the 5 reflexed lobes oblong lanceolate;

petals white to greenish-white, usually 5 but sometimes 1 or more lacking, often unequal in size, obovate to ovate-oblong, 2-4 mm. long and 1-2.5 broad;

stamens 10, filaments broadly club-shaped, 1-2 mm. long, greenish-white to pinkish.

Fruits

Follicle 7-12 mm. long exclusive of the slender, divergent, stylar beaks.

Ovary nearly superior in fruit;

carpels 2-4.

Micranthes lyallii

Micranthes oregana

Flowering time July-September April-July
Habitat Wet, gravelly meadows and along streams and ponds at high elevations. Bogs, streambanks and wet meadows at mid-elevations in the mountains.
Distribution
Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in northern Washington; Alaska to Washington, east to Alberta, Idaho, and Montana.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Washington to California, east to Alberta, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, and Colorado.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Origin Native Native
Conservation status Not of concern Not of concern
Sibling taxa
M. apetala, M. ferruginea, M. fragosa, M. gormanii, M. idahoensis, M. integrifolia, M. nelsoniana, M. nidifica, M. occidentalis, M. odontoloma, M. oregana, M. rufidula, M. tischii, M. tolmiei
M. apetala, M. ferruginea, M. fragosa, M. gormanii, M. idahoensis, M. integrifolia, M. lyallii, M. nelsoniana, M. nidifica, M. occidentalis, M. odontoloma, M. rufidula, M. tischii, M. tolmiei
Web links