Micranthes apetala
Micranthes gaspensis
tiny swamp saxifrage, western swamp saxifrage
Gaspé saxifrage, saxifrage de gaspésie
basal;
petiole flattened, 0.5–3 cm;
blade ± ovate, 2–5 cm, ± fleshy, base attenuate, margins entire or crenulate, eciliate, surfaces hairy.
basal;
petiole flattened, 0.7–2.5 cm;
blade obtrullate or obovate to ovate, 0.8–2.5 cm, ± coriaceous, base attenuate to ± cuneate, margins serrate to dentate on distal 2/3, ciliate, surfaces tangled, reddish brown-hairy abaxially, glabrous or glabrate adaxially.
10–25-flowered, congested, glomerate thyrses, 4–15 cm, pink- to purple-tipped stipitate-glandular (hairs uniseriate).
3–10-flowered, subcapitate to spicate cymes or thyrses, 2–10(–15) cm, glabrate to sparsely hairy proximally, ± densely purple-tipped stipitate-glandular distally.
sepals erect to ascending, ovate;
petals absent, sometimes 1–5, white to greenish white, not spotted, linear to oblong, clawed, 1–2 mm, much shorter than sepals;
filaments linear, flattened;
pistils connate to 1/2 their lengths;
ovary 1/2+ inferior.
sepals erect, reflexed in fruit, triangular to deltate;
petals white, not spotted, obovate, clawed, 1.5–2 mm, ± equaling sepals;
filaments linear, flattened;
pistils connate to 1/2 their lengths;
ovary 1/2 inferior, appearing more superior in fruit.
reddish or purplish, folliclelike.
green, becoming reddish or purplish, folliclelike.
= 38.
= 40.
Micranthes apetala
Micranthes gaspensis
Of conservation concern.
Micranthes gaspensis appears to be the stabilized hybrid derivative of M. nivalis and M. tenuis (C. Gervais et al. 1995), known only from the Shickshock Mountains of the Gaspé Peninsula; the chromosome number is intermediate between that of the parents (2n = 60 and 20, respectively), and seeds are fertile. Neither parent occurs any longer in the Gaspé Peninsula, and the plants appear to self-perpetuate.
F1 hybrids of the two parent species (also 2n = 40) occur in Yukon (D. L. Krause and K. I. Beamish 1973) and possibly at other locations throughout their range of sympatry, such as northern Quebec and Labrador; such hybrids will key out with Micranthes gaspensis. Individuals called Saxifraga rufopilosa (Hultén) A. E. Porsild [S. nivalis (Linnaeus) Small var. rufopilosa Hultén] from Yukon and Alaska (W. J. Cody 2000) also will key out here. These may represent either the F1 hybrids mentioned above or stabilized hybrid populations such as those in the Gaspé. It is possible that such stabilized populations would fit under the name M. gaspensis. A systematic study is needed before a taxonomic conclusion can be reached concerning their status.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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