Flora of North America species comparison

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Saxifraga mertensiana

Merten's or wood or woodland saxifrage, Mertens' saxifrage, wood saxifrage, woodland saxifrage
Habit Plants solitary or in clumps, not stoloniferous, with caudex or short-rhizomatous.
Leaves

basal and cauline, (basal persistent, cauline ± inconspicuous);

petiole rounded, 2–20 mm;

blade round to reniform, irregularly shallowly lobed, 20–80(–100) mm, thin, margins serrate, stipitate glandular-ciliate, apex obtuse to rounded, surfaces sparsely hairy.
Inflorescences

30+-flowered, open, much-branched thyrses, usually some or all flowers replaced by bulbils (sometimes bulbils absent), 15–40 cm, dark purple-tipped stipitate-glandular;

bracts (± inconspicuous), petiolate or sessile.
Flowers

sepals reflexed (at least in fruit), ovate to elliptic, margins eciliate, surfaces sparsely stipitate-glandular or glabrous;

petals white, not spotted, narrowly ovate to elliptic, (3–)4–6 mm, longer than sepals;

filaments strongly club-shaped;

ovary superior.
2n

= 36, ca. 48, 50.

Saxifraga mertensiana
Phenology Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Moist to wet stream banks, mossy cliffs and slopes, waterfall spray zones
Elevation 0-2500 m [0-8200 ft]
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; ID; MT; OR; WA; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Plants of Saxifraga mertensiana bear bulbils in the axils of basal leaves.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 146. Treatment authors: Luc Brouillet, Patrick E. Elvander†.
Parent taxa Saxifragaceae > Saxifraga
Sibling taxa
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. nathorstii, S. oppositifolia, S. paniculata, S. radiata, S. rivularis, S. serpyllifolia, S. taylorii, S. tricuspidata, S. tridactylites, S. vespertina
Synonyms S. mertensiana var. eastwoodiae
Name authority Bongard: Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St.-Pétersbourg, Sér. 6, Sci. Math. 2: 141. 1832 ,
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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