Micranthes fragosa |
Micranthes ferruginea |
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brittle-leaf saxifrage, Clayton's saxifrage, peak saxifrage |
Alaska saxifrage, rusty hair saxifrage, rusty saxifrage |
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Habit | Plants often mat-forming, long, thin-rhizomatous. | Plants solitary or tufted, with bulbils on caudices, short-rhizomatous. |
Leaves | basal; petiole flattened, 4–10 cm; blade broadly ovate to deltate, 4–8(–10) cm, fleshy, base attenuate, margins entire or minutely denticulate, ciliate, surfaces glabrate to sparsely hairy. |
basal; petiole indistinct, flattened, to 2 cm; blade spatulate to oblanceolate, 1–8(–10) cm, ± fleshy, base cuneate, margins irregularly serrate (usually with fewer than 12 coarse teeth), ciliate, surfaces hairy. |
Inflorescences | 30+-flowered, (flowers sometimes almost secund), open, lax, conic thyrses with ± open cymules on lateral branches, 20–50 cm, purple-tipped stipitate-glandular. |
20–30+-flowered, (flowers sometimes replaced ± completely by bulbils, or bulbils sometimes absent), open, lax thyrses, 10–40 cm, moderately to ± densely purple stipitate-glandular; (bracts reduced). |
Flowers | sepals spreading to slightly reflexed, ovate to deltate; petals white, not spotted, obovate, clawed, 2–3 mm, longer than sepals; filaments linear, flattened; pistils connate to 1/2 their lengths; ovary 1/2+ inferior, appearing more superior in fruit. |
± bilaterally symmetric; sepals reflexed, ovate to oblong; petals white, 3 with 2 basal yellow spots, 2 without spots, elliptic to oblanceolate, clawed, 3–5 mm, longer than sepals; filaments linear, flattened; pistils connate 1/2+ their lengths; ovary superior, (to 1/3 adnate to hypanthium). |
Capsules | green or reddish purple, folliclelike. |
green or yellow, sometimes purple tinged, or partly purple, valvate. |
2n | = 20, 38. |
= 20. |
Micranthes fragosa |
Micranthes ferruginea |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–summer. | Flowering summer–early autumn. |
Habitat | Wet, mossy cliffs, unstable slopes, often near watercourses | Wet ledges, seepage slopes, stream banks |
Elevation | 100-2600 m [300-8500 ft] | 10-2700 m [30-8900 ft] |
Distribution |
ID; OR; WA
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AK; CA; ID; MT; OR; WA; WY; AB; BC; NT
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Discussion | Micranthes fragosa is restored to specific status here because a review of its differences with M. nidifica shows it to be more distinctive than previously thought, and for consistency in the application of criteria for species recognition within the rest of the genus. In the southernmost part of its range, M. fragosa converges in appearance with M. californica. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Plants with bulbils replacing flowers are more common in the southern part (southern Alberta and British Columbia southwards) of the range of Micranthes ferruginea and have been called Saxifraga ferruginea var. macounii. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 68. | FNA vol. 8, p. 58. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Saxifraga fragosa, Saxifraga claytoniifolia, Saxifraga fragosa subsp. claytoniifolia, Saxifraga integrifolia var. claytoniifolia, Saxifraga nidifica var. claytoniifolia | Saxifraga ferruginea, Saxifraga ferruginea var. macounii, Saxifraga ferruginea var. newcombei, Saxifraga ferruginea var. vreelandii, Saxifraga newcombei |
Name authority | (Suksdorf ex Small) Small: in N. L. Britton et al., N. Amer. Fl. 22: 137. (1905) | (Graham) Brouillet & Gornall: J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 1: 1020. 2007 , |
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