Micranthes californica |
Micranthes tolmiei |
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California saxifrage, Greene's saxifrage |
alpine saxifrage, Tolmie's alpine saxifrage, Tolmie's saxifrage |
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Habit | Plants solitary or in clumps, with bulbils on caudices, or rhizomatous. | Plants mat-forming, (stems trailing, thin, basally slightly woody), with slender, woody caudices. |
Leaves | basal; petiole flattened, 2–5 cm; blade ovate, 2–7 cm, fleshy, base attenuate, margins serrate, rarely subentire, ciliate, surfaces hairy. |
cauline, proximally crowded; petiole absent; blade elliptic-obovate, 0.8–1.5 cm, fleshy, base cuneate, margins entire, sometimes proximally sparsely long-ciliate, surfaces glabrous. |
Inflorescences | 20+-flowered, (flowers often secund), open, lax thyrses with distant lateral branches, 15–30(–40) cm, purple-tipped stipitate-glandular. |
2–10-flowered, lax cymes, sometimes solitary flowers, 3–12 cm, glabrous or purplish- or pink-tipped stipitate-glandular; (bracts 1–3, proximal). |
Flowers | sepals reflexed, sometimes spreading, triangular to ovate; petals white, not spotted, elliptic to oblong, clawed, 2.5–4.5 mm, longer than sepals; filaments linear, flattened; pistils connate to 1/2 their lengths; ovary 1/2+ inferior, appearing superior in fruit. |
sepals erect to spreading, ovate; petals white, not spotted, linear to oblanceolate, 2.5–5 mm, longer than sepals, short- or not clawed; filaments broadly club-shaped (± petaloid); pistils connate to 1/2 their lengths; ovary ± superior (to 1/4 adnate to hypanthium). |
Capsules | purplish, folliclelike. |
green, purple mottled, valvate. |
2n | = 30. |
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Micranthes californica |
Micranthes tolmiei |
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Phenology | Flowering winter–early spring. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Shaded fields, rocky or unstable slopes, stream banks | Arctic and alpine tundra, fell-fields |
Elevation | 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft) | 500-4000 m (1600-13100 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; OR; Mexico (Baja California)
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AK; CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; BC
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Discussion | Unlike those of most Micranthes species, the leaves of M. tolmiei are proximally cauline and the ovules have two integuments. The seeds have a loose, winglike testa. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 64. | FNA vol. 8, p. 54. |
Parent taxa | Saxifragaceae > Micranthes | Saxifragaceae > Micranthes |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Saxifraga californica, M. parvifolia, Saxifraga fallax, Saxifraga hallii, Saxifraga parvifolia, Saxifraga virginiensis var. californica | Saxifraga tolmiei, Saxifraga tolmiei var. ledifolia |
Name authority | (Greene) Small: in N. L. Britton et al., N. Amer. Fl. 22: 140. (1905) | (Torrey & A. Gray) Brouillet & Gornall: J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 1: 1022. 2007 , |
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