Saxifraga bronchialis |
Saxifraga nathorstii |
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spotted saxifrage, yellowdot saxifrage |
east Greenland saxifrage |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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2n | = 52. |
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Saxifraga bronchialis |
Saxifraga nathorstii |
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Phenology | Flowering summer. | |||||
Habitat | Arctic marshes, damp tundra, alluvial river beds, dessicated ponds, inland nunataks | |||||
Elevation | 0-1200 m (0-3900 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AK; CO; ID; MT; NM; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NT; YT; Eurasia; arctic and alpine areas
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Greenland |
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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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 140. | FNA vol. 8, p. 136. | ||||
Parent taxa | Saxifragaceae > Saxifraga | Saxifragaceae > Saxifraga | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
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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