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Columbia saxifrage, meadow saxifrage, peak saxifrage, swamp saxifrage

Habit Plants solitary or in clumps, with bulbils on caudices.
Leaves

basal;

petiole flattened, 1.5–5.5 cm;

blade ± ovate to elliptic, 3–6(–7.5) cm, fleshy, base attenuate, margins entire or minutely denticulate, ciliate, surfaces glabrate to sparsely hairy.

Inflorescences

30+-flowered, lax, cylindric thyrses with 3–10, ± compact cymules, 10–30 cm, ± densely pink- to purple-tipped stipitate-glandular.

Flowers

sepals strongly reflexed, broadly ovate to deltate;

petals white to greenish white, not spotted, usually elliptic to obovate, clawed, 1–1.9 mm, equaling or shorter than sepals;

filaments linear, flattened;

pistils connate to 1/2 their lengths;

ovary 1/2+ inferior.

Capsules

green or reddish purple, folliclelike.

2n

= 38.

Micranthes nidifica

Phenology Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Open meadows, shrub-lands, gravelly slopes, edges of and open pine forests
Elevation 100-2600 m (300-8500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Micranthes nidifica is polymorphic and merges to some extent with M. fragosa in limited areas of southern Washington and northern Oregon.

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

Source FNA vol. 8, p. 68.
Parent taxa Saxifragaceae > Micranthes
Sibling taxa
M. apetala, M. aprica, M. bryophora, M. californica, M. calycina, M. careyana, M. caroliniana, M. eriophora, M. ferruginea, M. foliolosa, M. fragosa, M. gaspensis, M. gormanii, M. hieraciifolia, M. hitchcockiana, M. howellii, M. idahoensis, M. integrifolia, M. lyallii, M. marshallii, M. micranthidifolia, M. nelsoniana, M. nivalis, M. nudicaulis, M. occidentalis, M. odontoloma, M. oregana, M. palmeri, M. pensylvanica, M. petiolaris, M. razshivinii, M. reflexa, M. rhomboidea, M. rufidula, M. spicata, M. stellaris, M. subapetala, M. tempestiva, M. tenuis, M. texana, M. tischii, M. tolmiei, M. unalaschcensis, M. virginiensis
Synonyms Saxifraga nidifica, M. plantaginea, Saxifraga columbiana, Saxifraga integrifolia var. columbiana, Saxifraga integrifolia var. leptopetala, Saxifraga montana, Saxifraga plantaginea
Name authority (Greene) Small: in N. L. Britton et al., N. Amer. Fl. 22: 134. (1905)
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