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Saxifraga oppositifolia

purple mountain saxifrage, purple or purple mountain saxifrage, purple saxifrage, saxifrage à feuilles opposées, twinflower saxifrage

Matted saxifrage, saxifraga vespertina, spotted saxifrage, yellow dot saxifrage

Habit Plants mat- or cushion-forming (with trailing, ± woody stems), not stoloniferous, rhizomatous. Plants forming loose mats, (stems trailing), 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.

cauline (crowded proximally);

petiole absent;

blade spatulate, unlobed or minutely 3-toothed or -lobed apically, 4–11 mm, leathery, margins entire, (not cartilaginous), stiffly ciliate, apex rounded or obtuse, mucronate, surfaces glabrous.

Inflorescences

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

3–6-flowered cymes, 2.5–12 cm, pink- to purple-tipped stipitate-glandular;

bracts sessile.

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.

sepals erect, ovate to oblong, margins sparsely ciliate, surfaces glabrous;

petals white to cream, yellow-spotted proximally, red- or orange-spotted distally, these often faded in dried specimens, elliptic, 4–6 mm, much longer than sepals;

ovary superior.

Capsules

± folliclelike.

2n

= 26.

Saxifraga oppositifolia

Saxifraga vespertina

Phenology Flowering summer.
Habitat Rocky slopes, ledges, crevices
Elevation 100-1800 m [300-5900 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
OR; WA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[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. 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. mertensiana, S. nathorstii, 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. tricuspidata, S. tridactylites
Subordinate taxa
S. oppositifolia subsp. oppositifolia, S. oppositifolia subsp. smalliana
Synonyms Leptasea vespertina, S. bronchialis subsp. vespertina, S. bronchialis var. vespertina
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 402. 1753 , (Small) Fedde: Just’s Bot. Jahresber. 33(1): 613. (1906)
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