Saxifraga mertensiana |
Saxifraga serpyllifolia |
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Merten's or wood or woodland saxifrage, Mertens' saxifrage, wood saxifrage, woodland saxifrage |
thyme-leaf saxifrage |
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Habit | Plants solitary or in clumps, not stoloniferous, with caudex or short-rhizomatous. | Plants mat-forming, not stoloniferous, 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. |
basal and cauline, (cauline 1–4); petiole absent; blade linear (cauline) or oblong to oblanceolate or spatulate, unlobed, 2–8.5 mm, fleshy, margins (recurved), entire, eciliate, apex obtuse, not mucronate, surfaces glabrous or glabrate. |
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. |
solitary flowers, 2–7 cm, sparsely to densely pink- to purple-tipped stipitate-glandular; bracts 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. |
sepals erect to spreading (reflexed in fruit, often purplish), broadly ovate to elliptic, margins eciliate or sometimes sparsely ciliate, surfaces glabrous; petals pale yellow, rarely purple, faded when dried, not spotted, elliptic to obovate, 4–8 mm, longer than sepals; ovary superior. |
2n | = 36, ca. 48, 50. |
= 16 (Russia). |
Saxifraga mertensiana |
Saxifraga serpyllifolia |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring–summer. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Moist to wet stream banks, mossy cliffs and slopes, waterfall spray zones | Moist to dry sandy areas, cliffs, gravelly ridges, scree, tundra |
Elevation | 0-2500 m (0-8200 ft) | 0-2200 m (0-7200 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; CA; ID; MT; OR; WA; AB; BC
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AK; NT; NU; YT; Asia (Japan, Siberia) |
Discussion | Plants of Saxifraga mertensiana bear bulbils in the axils of basal leaves. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The purple-flowered variant of Saxifraga serpyllifolia has been called var. purpurea. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 146. | FNA vol. 8, p. 139. |
Parent taxa | Saxifragaceae > Saxifraga | Saxifragaceae > Saxifraga |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. mertensiana var. eastwoodiae | S. serpyllifolia var. purpurea |
Name authority | Bongard: Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St.-Pétersbourg, Sér. 6, Sci. Math. 2: 141. 1832 , | Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 1: 310. 1813 , |
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