Flora of North America species comparison

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Saxifraga rivularis

alpine-brook saxifrage, weak saxifrage
Habit Plants (delicate), loosely tufted or matted, (green to purple), stoloniferous, weakly rhizomatous, (with bulbils in axils of basal leaves).
Leaves

basal and cauline;

petiole ± flattened, 2–30(–50) mm;

blade reniform, 3–5(–7)-lobed (lobes rounded, sometimes ± obtuse, distalmost unlobed), (2.6–)3.7–5.2(–7.4) mm, slightly fleshy, margins entire, eciliate or sparsely glandular-ciliate, without lime-secreting hydathodes (with nonsecreting hydathodes at lobe apices), apex acute, surfaces glabrous.
Inflorescences

2–3(–5)-flowered cymes, sometimes solitary flowers, (flowers pedicellate), 1.7–7 cm, glabrous or sparsely to ± densely tangled, pink-tipped stipitate-glandular;

bracts (2–3), petiolate, (unlobed or 1–3-lobed, reduced).
Flowers

(hypanthium U-shaped in longisection);

sepals erect, (sometimes rusty brown), elliptic to ovate, margins eciliate or sparsely glandular-ciliate, glabrous or sparsely to densely stipitate-glandular;

petals white, sometimes pink tinged, not spotted, oblong to elliptic, 2–6 mm, to 2–3 times length of sepals;

ovary 1/2 inferior.

Saxifraga rivularis
Distribution
from FNA
AK; NH; NU; QC; n Eurasia
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

Some reports of Saxifraga sibirica Linnaeus from Canada are misidentifications of this species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Plants wholly green or purple only in inflorescences; hair crosswalls usually without color, rarely pale purple; inflorescences 2.7-7 cm, glabrous or sparsely stipitate-glandular; hypanthia sparsely short stipitate-glandular, hairs 0.1-0.3(-0.4) mm.
subsp. rivularis
1. Plants mostly purple (at least inflorescences); hair crosswalls purple; inflorescences 1.7-3 cm, sparsely to densely stipitate-glandular; hypanthia sparsely to densely long stipitate-glandular, hairs (0.2-)0.3-0.6(-1.1) mm.
subsp. arctolitoralis
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 144.
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. mertensiana, S. nathorstii, S. oppositifolia, S. paniculata, S. radiata, S. serpyllifolia, S. taylorii, S. tricuspidata, S. tridactylites, S. vespertina
Subordinate taxa
S. rivularis subsp. arctolitoralis, S. rivularis subsp. rivularis
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 404. (1753)
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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