Micranthes occidentalis |
Micranthes foliolosa |
|
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mountain saxifrage, redwool saxifrage, western saxifrage |
leafy stem saxifrage, naked-bulbil small-flower-saxifrage, saxifrage à bulbilles |
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Habit | Plants in groups or sometimes almost mat-forming, with bulbils on caudices or rhizomatous. | Plants solitary or tufted, with bulbils on caudices. |
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. |
basal; petiole ± absent; blade oblanceolate, 6–15(–30) cm, ± fleshy, base cuneate, margins subentire, sometimes 1–3-toothed distally, eciliate or sparsely ciliate, surfaces glabrate. |
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). |
2(–5+)-flowered, (proximal flowers replaced by bulbils), narrow, branched, sometimes ± open, cylindric thyrses, sometimes solitary flowers, 5–15 cm, glabrous or sparsely purple-tipped stipitate-glandular. (Pedicels erect to ascending.) Flowers: sepals reflexed, lanceolate; petals white, each with 1–2 basal yellow spots, lanceolate, clawed, 3–8 mm, longer than sepals; filaments linear, flattened; pistils connate 1/2+ their lengths; ovary superior, (to 1/3 adnate to hypanthium). |
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. |
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Capsules | greenish or reddish to ± dark purple, folliclelike. |
green to purplish, valvate. |
2n | = 20, 38, 40, 56, 58. |
= 56. |
Micranthes occidentalis |
Micranthes foliolosa |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring–summer. | Flowering late summer. |
Habitat | Wet, rocky or gravelly slopes, moist to dry alpine meadows, flushes | Mossy tundra near streams and flushes, wet, rocky slopes, snowbeds |
Elevation | 500-4000 m (1600-13100 ft) | 0-1800 m (0-5900 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; ID; MT; NV; OR; SD; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
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AK; CO; ME; NL; NT; NU; QC; YT; Greenland; n Europe; n Asia |
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.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 62. | FNA vol. 8, p. 57. |
Parent taxa | Saxifragaceae > Micranthes | Saxifragaceae > Micranthes |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Saxifraga occidentalis, Saxifraga allenii, Saxifraga occidentalis var. allenii, Saxifraga occidentalis var. wallowensis, Saxifraga reflexa subsp. occidentalis, Saxifraga saximontana | Saxifraga foliolosa, Saxifraga foliolosa var. multiflora, Saxifraga stellaris subsp. comosa, Saxifraga stellaris var. comosa |
Name authority | (S. Watson) Small: in N. L. Britton et al., N. Amer. Fl. 22: 144. 1905 , | (R. Brown) Gornall: J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 1: 1020. 2007 , |
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