Flora of North America species comparison

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Cascadia nuttallii

Cascadia

Nuttall's saxifrage

saxifrage
Habit Herbs, annual; herbage glabrous or sparsely red stipitate-glandular.
Stems

branched proximal to middle, slender.

Flowering stems

trailing or suberect, leafy, 4–40 cm.
Leaves

largest along middle of stems;

petiole distinct, 1–6 mm;

blade 3–20 mm.

cauline;

stipules absent;

petiole glabrous;

blade ovate to lanceolate, unlobed, base cuneate or attenuate to rounded, margins 3-toothed apically or not, ultimate margins entire, (without lime-secreting hydathodes), apex acute;

venation palmate or pinnate.
Inflorescences

poorly defined, usually paniculiform or racemiform thyrses, sometimes solitary flowers, 2–4-flowered, bracteate.
Pedicels

filiform.

Flowers

sepals erect, triangular, apex acute;

petals elliptic to obovate, 3–6 mm, much longer than sepals.

hypanthium adnate to proximal 1/3 of ovary, free from ovary 0 mm, adnate portion increasing along with attached ovary at maturity to constitute 2/3–4/5 of fruit, green, (0.8–2 mm);

sepals 5, green;

petals 5, white;

nectary disc present;

stamens 10, (distinct);

filaments flattened, slightly widened at base;

ovary semi-inferior, 2-locular, carpels connate in proximal 1/3 or less;

placentation axile, appearing marginal above point of connation of ovaries;

styles 2;

stigmas 2.
Capsules

2–5 mm.

folliclelike, 2-beaked.
Seeds

brown, oblong, spiny in longitudinal rows.
x

= 8.
2n

= 16.

Cascadia nuttallii

Cascadia
Phenology Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Wet, shaded cliffs and ledges, sometimes coastal or near waterfalls, mossy mats, wet rocks, moist crevices
Elevation 0-1200 m (0-3900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR; WA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
w United States
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Cascadia nuttallii is found from the coastal mountains to the western slopes of the Cascade Range, from extreme northwestern California to southwestern Washington. The accepted species name was validated in a correction slip attached to reprints of Johnson’s article describing Cascadia.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Species 1: w United States.

Johnson placed Saxifraga nuttallii in his monotypic genus Cascadia based on the unusual habit, free carpels, and spiny seeds. Molecular phylogenetic data (M. E. Mort and D. E. Soltis 1999; Soltis et al. 2001) placed Cascadia as sister to the southern South American (Tierra del Fuego) Saxifragodes D. M. Moore, both sister to Micranthes. Mort and Soltis considered the ovary of Cascadia to be superior because the two carpels are distinct to their bases; the hypanthium, fused to each carpel, gives the ovaries a semi-inferior appearance. Ovules in Cascadia are bitegmic, as in Saxifraga; those of Micranthes are usually unitegmic.

Species 1

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 49. FNA vol. 8, p. 48. Author: Luc Brouillet.
Parent taxa Saxifragaceae > Cascadia Saxifragaceae
Subordinate taxa
C. nuttallii
Synonyms Saxifraga nuttallii
Name authority (Small) A. M. Johnson: Corrig. 1927 , A. M. Johnson: Amer. J. Bot. 14: 38, figs. 1, 2. 1927 ,
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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