Family: Saxifragaceae,
Saxifrage
Genus: Saxifraga
Description
General: perennial with a usually simple, short, erect root
crown. Flowering stems single, leafless, 10-20 cm tall,
hairless to glandular-short-hairy at the base and always
rather copiously glandular-short-hairy above with whitish
hairs tipped with a yellowish to reddish gland.
 Leaves: basal only, with thick, triangular to rhombic
blades 1-4 cm long, prominently blunt- to sharp-toothed,
hairy on edges, generally hairless on the upper surface but
rusty-cobwebby on the lower surface, narrowed abruptly to
a broad, winged stalk usually shorter than the blade.
 Flowers: many in a dense, head-like cluster. Petals 5,
white or cream, rounded, usually longer than the calyx
lobes, spatulate to oblong-ovate and narrowed abruptly to
a broad base. Calyx with a broadly conic base about equal
to the triangular to oblong-ovate, 1-2 mm lobes. Stamens
about equaling the calyx lobes, filaments broadly awl-
shaped. The ovary tapered to broad, beaklike tips. True
styles lacking, stigmas enlarged and round.
Flowering time: late May-August.
 Fruits: capsules, the seed-bearing portion 4-6 mm long,
ending in curved back stylar beaks, usually purplish or
reddish. Seeds brownish, about 0.6 mm long, lightly
wrinkled longitudinally.
Distribution
Moist places in sagebrush-covered slopes to subalpine
meadows, in w. and c. parts of MT. Also from s. B.C. and
Alberta to CO, UT and c. ID. |
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