Flora of North America species comparison

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Saxifraga oppositifolia

Saxifraga oppositifolia subsp. oppositifolia
Saxifraga oppositifolia

purple mountain saxifrage, purple or purple mountain saxifrage, purple saxifrage, saxifrage à feuilles opposées, twinflower saxifrage
Photo is of parent taxon

purple mountain saxifrage, purple saxifrage, twinflower saxifrage
Habit Plants mat- or cushion-forming (with trailing, ± woody stems), not stoloniferous, rhizomatous.
Leaves

cauline (marcescent, crowded), opposite (rarely alternate);

petiole absent;

blade oblong to ± broadly obovate, unlobed, 2–5 mm, leathery, margins entire, bristly-ciliate, with 1(–3) lime-secreting hydathodes (in pit, secretion obvious), apex obtuse, surfaces glabrous.

Inflorescences

solitary flowers, ebracteate, 1–5 cm, glabrate or sparsely purple-tipped stipitate-glandular.

Flowers

sepals erect, ovate, margins stiffly ciliate or not, surfaces hairy, stipitate-glandular, or glabrous;

petals purple to pink, rarely white, often drying violet, not spotted, obovate to elliptic, (2–)5–12(–20) mm, longer than sepals;

ovary ± superior.

Capsules

± folliclelike.

Sepals

margins bristly-ciliate, abaxial surface hairy, sometimes stipitate-glandular.
2n

= 26, 39, 48, 52.

Saxifraga oppositifolia

Saxifraga oppositifolia subsp. oppositifolia
Phenology Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Arctic and alpine tundra, mountain ledges, rock crevices, calcareous gravel, raised beach ridges
Elevation 0-4000 m [0-13100 ft]
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CO; ID; MT; NY; OR; VT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; NS; NT; NU; ON; QC; YT; Eurasia; arctic and alpine
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; CO; ID; MT; NY; OR; VT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; QC; YT; Greenland; Eurasia
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 7 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Sepal margins bristly-ciliate
subsp. oppositifolia
1. Sepal margins glandular-ciliate
subsp. smalliana
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 136. FNA vol. 8, p. 136.
Parent taxa Saxifragaceae > Saxifraga Saxifragaceae > Saxifraga > Saxifraga oppositifolia
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. mertensiana, S. nathorstii, S. paniculata, S. radiata, S. rivularis, S. serpyllifolia, S. taylorii, S. tricuspidata, S. tridactylites, S. vespertina
S. oppositifolia subsp. smalliana
Subordinate taxa
S. oppositifolia subsp. oppositifolia, S. oppositifolia subsp. smalliana
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 402. 1753 , unknown
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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