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Merten's or wood or woodland saxifrage, Mertens' saxifrage, wood saxifrage, woodland saxifrage

prickly saxifrage, saxifrage à trois dents, three-tooth saxifrage

Habit Plants solitary or in clumps, not stoloniferous, with caudex or short-rhizomatous. Plants loosely mat-forming, (stems trailing), not stoloniferous, with elongate caudex or 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.

cauline, (marcescent, crowded proximally);

petiole absent;

blade (often reddish), linear to cuneate, 1–3-lobed or -toothed apically (distal cauline unlobed), rarely all unlobed, (lobes long spinose-mucronate), 5–20 mm, leathery, margins entire, softly glandular-ciliate, (nonsecreting hydathodes present adaxially), apex acute, long spinose-mucronate, surfaces glabrous.

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.

3–10-flowered cymes, 4–10(–24) cm, white to sparsely 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 ascending, (sometimes purplish), triangular-ovate, margins ± glandular-ciliate, surfaces white to purple-tipped stipitate-glandular;

petals white to cream, proximally to distally yellow-, orange-, and red-spotted, elliptic to ovate, 4–7 mm, much longer than sepals;

ovary superior.

2n

= 36, ca. 48, 50.

= 26.

Saxifraga mertensiana

Saxifraga tricuspidata

Phenology Flowering spring–summer. Flowering late spring–summer.
Habitat Moist to wet stream banks, mossy cliffs and slopes, waterfall spray zones Open sandy, gravelly, or rocky sites, forest openings, grassy slopes, rocky ridges, stony tundra
Elevation 0-2500 m (0-8200 ft) 0-3000 m (0-9800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; ID; MT; OR; WA; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; MI; AB; BC; LB; MB; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT; Greenland
[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.)

The rare, entire-leaved form of Saxifraga tricuspidata can be confused with S. bronchialis; it has glandular-ciliate margins instead of stiffly hooked-ciliate ones.

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

Source FNA vol. 8, p. 146. FNA vol. 8, p. 142.
Parent taxa Saxifragaceae > Saxifraga 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
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. nathorstii, S. oppositifolia, S. paniculata, S. radiata, S. rivularis, S. serpyllifolia, S. taylorii, 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 , Rotbøll: Skr. Kiøbenhavnske Selsk. Laerd. Elsk. 10: 446. 1770 (as 3cuspidata) ,
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