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spotted saxifrage, yellowdot saxifrage

east Greenland saxifrage

Habit Plants mat-forming, (stems trailing), not stoloniferous, rhizomatous. Plants loosely mat-forming, not stoloniferous, rhizomatous, from caudex.
Leaves

basal and cauline, (marcescent, crowded);

petiole absent;

blade (sometimes reddish), linear or linear-lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, unlobed, 3–15 mm, leathery, margins entire, stiffly, often hooked, white-ciliate, sometimes also glandular-ciliate, apex acute, white spinulose-mucronate (spine 1–1.5 mm), surfaces glabrous, sometimes adaxially sparsely sessile-glandular.

cauline, (not imbricate), opposite (distalmost alternate);

petiole absent;

blade oblanceolate to elliptic, unlobed, 5–9 mm, fleshy, margins entire, ciliate, with 1(–3) lime-secreting hydathodes, apex obtuse, surfaces glabrous.

Inflorescences

2–15-flowered cymes or thyrses, sometimes solitary flowers, 5–20 cm, sparsely short stipitate-glandular;

bracts sessile.

solitary flowers, sometimes 2-flowered cymes, ebracteate, 3–4 cm, glabrate.

Flowers

sepals ± erect, (purplish), ovate to triangular, margins eciliate or sparsely glandular, surfaces glabrous or sparsely sessile-glandular;

petals yellowish white, purple- or red- to yellow-spotted, oblong to elliptic, 3–7 mm, longer than sepals;

ovary superior.

sepals erect, ovate, margins ciliate, surfaces glabrous;

petals salmon to flesh colored, sometimes red or orange, rarely yellow, sometimes violet tinged, not spotted, obovate to oblanceolate, 12–15 mm, longer than sepals;

ovary to 1/4 inferior.

2n

= 52.

Saxifraga bronchialis

Saxifraga nathorstii

Phenology Flowering summer.
Habitat Arctic marshes, damp tundra, alluvial river beds, dessicated ponds, inland nunataks
Elevation 0-1200 m (0-3900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CO; ID; MT; NM; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NT; YT; Eurasia; arctic and alpine areas
[WildflowerSearch map]
from USDA
Greenland
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 4 (2 in the flora).

The Saxifraga bronchialis complex, including S. cherlerioides, S. taylorii, S. tricuspidata, and S. vespertina, needs a thorough study.

Saxifraga firma Litvinov ex Losina-Losinskaja has been cited for North America; the name belongs in synonymy of a Eurasian subspecies and appears to have been misapplied to North American specimens.

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

Saxifraga nathorstii is known only from northeastern Greenland. T. W. Böcher (1941) showed cytologically that this species may be an allopolyploid that originated as a hybrid between S. oppositifolia and S. aizoides; morpho-logically, phenologically, and ecologically, it is intermediate between the two species (see also T. J. Sørensen 1933).

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

Key
1. Petals yellow-spotted, distinctly clawed.
subsp. funstonii
1. Petals yellow-spotted proximally, purple- or red-spotted distally, not clawed.
subsp. austromontana
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 140. FNA vol. 8, p. 136.
Parent taxa Saxifragaceae > Saxifraga Saxifragaceae > Saxifraga
Sibling taxa
S. adscendens, S. aizoides, S. aleutica, S. bracteata, S. cernua, S. cespitosa, S. cherlerioides, S. chrysantha, S. debilis, S. eschscholtzii, S. flagellaris, S. hirculus, S. hyperborea, S. mertensiana, S. nathorstii, S. oppositifolia, S. paniculata, S. radiata, S. rivularis, S. serpyllifolia, S. taylorii, S. tricuspidata, S. tridactylites, S. vespertina
S. adscendens, S. aizoides, S. aleutica, S. bracteata, S. bronchialis, S. cernua, S. cespitosa, S. cherlerioides, S. chrysantha, S. debilis, S. eschscholtzii, S. flagellaris, S. hirculus, S. hyperborea, S. mertensiana, S. oppositifolia, S. paniculata, S. radiata, S. rivularis, S. serpyllifolia, S. taylorii, S. tricuspidata, S. tridactylites, S. vespertina
Subordinate taxa
S. bronchialis subsp. austromontana, S. bronchialis subsp. funstonii
Synonyms S. oppositifolia var. nathorstii
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 400. 1753 , (Dusén) Hayek: Denkschr. Kaiserl. Akad. Wiss., Wein. Math.-Naturwiss. Kl. 77: 661. 1905 (as nathorsti),
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