Family: Saxifragaceae,
Saxifrage
Genus: Saxifraga
Description
General: evergreen, tufted perennial, usually in cushions up
to 3 dm broad. Flowering stems 5-15 cm tall, more or less
glandular-short-hairy, especially above.
 Leaves: alternate, rigid, mainly crowded near the stem
base, linear-lanceolate, persisting for many years, about
5-15 mm long and 1-2.5 mm broad, entire, coarsely hairy
on edges, rounded to pointed, but always with a small
spine on the tip, otherwise hairless.
 Flowers: mostly 2-10 in an open, often flat-topped
cluster. Petals 5, white, usually strongly purple-spotted
above the middle, mostly 5-7 mm long, obovate. Calyx
saucer-shaped, the united portion 1/2-1/3 as long as the
lobes. The sepals 1.5-2.5 mm long, triangular to oval,
hairless or sparingly hairy on edges, spreading. Filaments
somewhat shorter than the petals, inserted at the edge of
the ovary. Ovary projecting upward into short hollow stylar
beaks 1-2 mm long, true solid styles lacking.
Flowering time: June-August.
 Fruits: erect capsules in pairs, usually purplish, 4-5 mm
long exclusive of the spreading beaks. Seeds dark brown,
0.7-0.9 mm long, oblanceolate-ellipsoid, nearly smooth.
Subspecies: our specimen belong to ssp. austromontana.
Distribution
Rock crevices and rock slides to open slopes, foothills to
alpine zone, in w. and sc. parts of MT. Also from AK to
OR, ID and NM. |
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