Micranthes occidentalis |
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mountain saxifrage, redwool saxifrage, western saxifrage |
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Habit | Plants in groups or sometimes almost mat-forming, with bulbils on caudices or rhizomatous. |
Leaves | basal; petiole flattened, 1–5 cm; blade ovate to elliptic, 1.5–3.5 cm, ± fleshy, base ± attenuate to ± truncate, margins shallowly, sharply serrate, ciliate, surfaces sparsely tangled, reddish brown-hairy abaxially, glabrous adaxially. |
Inflorescences | usually (10–)30+-flowered, flowers crowded into 1+ glomerules in thyrses with ascending branches, 8–30 cm, purple-tipped stipitate-glandular; (bracts glabrous or marginally glandular-ciliate). |
Flowers | sepals ascending to spreading, sometimes reflexed in fruit, ovate to oblong, (surfaces glabrous); petals white, not spotted (spots rarely present), obovate to almost round, clawed, 2–4 mm, to 1.5 times as long as sepals; filaments linear to very slightly widened near anthers, flattened; pistils distinct almost to base; ovary ± superior. |
Capsules | greenish or reddish to ± dark purple, folliclelike. |
2n | = 20, 38, 40, 56, 58. |
Micranthes occidentalis |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–summer. |
Habitat | Wet, rocky or gravelly slopes, moist to dry alpine meadows, flushes |
Elevation | 500-4000 m (1600-13100 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; ID; MT; NV; OR; SD; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
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Discussion | Micranthes occidentalis appears closely related to the little-known M. mexicana (Engler & Irmscher) Brouillet & Gornall from Chihuahua, Mexico. The latter is the only species of the genus that occurs in Mexico and not in the United States. Micranthes occidentalis is disjunct between the northern Rocky Mountains and the Cypress Hills of southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan, and the Black Hills of South Dakota. It hybridizes with M. idahoensis where their ranges overlap. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 62. |
Parent taxa | Saxifragaceae > Micranthes |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | Saxifraga occidentalis, Saxifraga allenii, Saxifraga occidentalis var. allenii, Saxifraga occidentalis var. wallowensis, Saxifraga reflexa subsp. occidentalis, Saxifraga saximontana |
Name authority | (S. Watson) Small: in N. L. Britton et al., N. Amer. Fl. 22: 144. 1905 , |
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