Log In New Account Sitemap
  • Home
  • Specimen Search
    • Search Collections
    • Map Search
    • Exsiccati Search
  • Images
    • Image Browser
    • Search Images
  • Flora Projects
    • Arizona
    • New Mexico
    • Colorado Plateau
    • Plant Atlas of Arizona (PAPAZ)
    • Sonoran Desert
    • Teaching Checklists
  • Agency Floras
    • NPS - Intermountain
    • USFWS - Region 2
    • BLM Flora
    • Coronado NF
  • Dynamic Floras
    • Dynamic Checklist
    • Dynamic Key
  • Additional Websites
    • New Mexico Flores
    • Plant Atlas Project of Arizona (PAPAZ)
    • Southwest Colorado Wildflowers
    • Vascular Plants of the Gila Wilderness
    • Consortium of Midwest Herbaria
    • Consortium of Southern Rocky Mountain Herbaria
    • Intermountain Region Herbaria Network (IRHN)
    • Mid-Atlantic Herbaria
    • North American Network of Small Herbaria (NANSH)
    • Northern Great Plains Herbaria
    • Red de Herbarios del Noroeste de México (northern Mexico)
    • SERNEC - Southeastern USA
    • Texas Oklahoma Regional Consortium of Herbaria (TORCH)
  • Resources
    • Help
    • Webinars
    • Joining a Symbiota Portal
Saxifraga
Family: Saxifragaceae
Saxifraga image
Gail McDonald  
  • FNA
  • VPAP
  • Gleason & Cronquist
  • Web Links
Luc Brouillet, Patrick E. Elvander in Flora of North America (vol. 8)
Herbs perennial (biennial in S. adscendens, annual in S. tridactylites), sometimes rhizomatous, sometimes stoloniferous; caudex not fleshy, scaly, sometimes with bulbils; herbage hairy or stipitate-glandular, sometimes glabrous. Flowering stems ± erect, leafy, 1-40[-100] cm. Leaves in basal rosette and cauline, alternate (opposite in S. nathorstii, S. oppositifolia), cauline reduced; stipules absent; petiole absent or present; blade obovate, oblong, oblong-obovate, elliptic, linear, spatulate, or oblanceolate to ovate, reniform, or round, lobed or unlobed, base cuneate to cordate, ultimate margins entire, crenate, serrate, or dentate, (with lime-secreting hydathodes in S. aizoides, S. nathorstii, S. oppositifolia, S. paniculata), apex acute to obtuse or rounded; venation pinnate or palmate. Inflorescences thyrses or, sometimes, cymes, sometimes solitary flowers, terminal from terminal bud in rosette, 2-200[-1000]-flowered, (some or all flowers replaced by bulbils in S. cernua, S. mertensiana), usually bracteate (ebracteate in S. nathorstii, S. oppositifolia); (bracts leaflike). Flowers [bilaterally symmetric], bisexual (unisexual and plants sometimes gynodioecious, or plants dioecious in S. eschscholtzii); hypanthium free from or 1/4-3/4 adnate to ovary, free from ovary to 0.5 mm, green or pink to purple, (0.1-4 mm); sepals 5, green, sometimes reddish at tips, sometimes ± purple; petals absent or (1-)5, white, cream, yellow, orange, red, pink, or purple, often yellow-, orange-, or red-spotted; nectary disc present or not; stamens 10, (distinct); filaments linear and ± flattened (club-shaped in S. mertensiana); ovary superior to ± inferior, sometimes appearing more superior in fruit, 2-locular, carpels usually (1/4-)1/2 connate proximally or ± distinct; placentation axile (when connate 1/2+ their length) or appearing marginal; styles 2; stigmas 2. Capsules 2(-3)-beaked (± folliclelike in S. oppositifolia). Seeds brown, oblong, ellipsoid, or ovoid, smooth, tuberculate, or papillate. x = 6, 8, 11, 13, 14. Saxifraga has had differing treatments (e.g., J. K. Small and P. A. Rydberg 1905b; H. G. A. Engler and E. Irmscher 1916; P. E. Elvander 1984; D. A. Webb and R. J. Gornall 1989). Most have been based on morphology and cytology. Relationships among species are difficult to assess. The broad Linnaean concept of the genus had been accepted by most recent authors. Molecular phylogenetic data (summarized by D. E. Soltis et al. 2001) show that Saxifraga as traditionally understood is polyphyletic and should be divided into two main groups, Saxifraga in the narrow sense and Micranthes Haworth, the treatment followed here. Other taxa, notably the North American Cascadia, must also be recognized. Cascadia differs from both Saxifraga and Micranthes in its lax, trailing stems and only cauline leaves, its carpels connate only proximally and each independently adnate to the hypanthium, and its spiny seeds; its ovules are bitegmic as in Saxifraga; ovules are unitegmic (except for sect. Merkianae) in Micranthes. In addition, Saxifraga and Micranthes differ by the following traits: leaves basal and cauline (these sometimes reduced and bractlike) in the former versus basal only (or proximally crowded) in the latter (the flowering stems being leafless); carpels usually connate more than one-half versus less than one-half, although there is variation in both genera for this trait; seeds smooth, tuberculate, or papillate versus longitudinally ribbed; and pollen striate or granular versus reticulate (L. Brouillet and R. J. Gornall 2007). Saxifraga in the narrow sense, as adopted here, includes most sections of the traditional genus as well as a majority of the species. In North America fewer species belong to Saxifraga than to Micranthes. Eight species of Saxifraga are endemic to North America. A single introduced species has established itself in the flora area; other garden species have usually not escaped or were ephemeral. The following species are excluded from this treatment: S. cymbalaria Linnaeus (misidentification of S. sibthorpii Boissier, a garden plant, not established), S. ×geum Linnaeus and S. umbrosa Linnaeus (both misidentifications of S. hirsuta specimens), and S. hirsuta Linnaeus (not established). The report of S. stolonifera Meerburgh (syn. S. sarmentosa Linnaeus f.) from California is old; there has been no recent collection, and that species also is excluded here.

There is extensive occurrence of polyploidy and dysploidy throughout Saxifraga (P. E. Elvander 1984; D. A. Webb and R. J. Gornall 1989).

The stigmas and styles are typically two; occasional flowers on plants in some species have three or, rarely, four stigmas and styles. In addition, ovary position in some taxa can change from mostly inferior at flowering to superior in fruit. Ovary position is described at flowering. Capsules usually have two connate carpels that are distally distinct; in rare cases, carpels are distinct nearly to the base and fruits are folliclelike. Only such exceptions are indicated in descriptions, the usual case being assumed.

JANAS 26(1)
CAUDEX: or rhizome usually with scales, sometimes with bulblets. LEAVES: basal, sometimes also cauline; blade ovate to circular in ours, the base attenuate to cordate, the margin entire to lobed, dentate, or serrate. INFLORESCENCE: generally cymes or panicles covered with cream-yellow to pink or purple glandular hairs. FLOWERS: actinomorphic in ours, sometimes only 1 or 2; hypanthium more or less fused to ovary in ours; sepals usually green, erect to spreading or reflexed; petals white, rarely yellow or spotted, entire; stamens 10, anthers usually pale-yellow to orange; ovary superior to more or less inferior, sometimes more superior in fruit; nectaries disk-like, ribbon-like or obscure; locules, placentae, styles 2(-3), the placentae axile. FRUITS: 2(-3) valved. SEEDS: smooth to ridged. NOTES: Ca. 300 spp., chiefly n temperate, arctic, alpine regions. (Latin: saxum = stone + frangere = to break, referring to bulblets which were thought to dissolve urinary concretions). Elvander, P. 1984. Syst. Bot. Monogr. 3:1-44. REFERENCES: Elvander, Patrick. 1992. Saxifragaceae. Ariz.-Nev. Acad. Sci. 26(1)2.
Vascular plants of NE US and adjacent Canada
Fls perfect, regular or slightly irregular, 5-merous; hypanthium usually adnate to the base of the carpels, sometimes essentially free; pet mostly narrow; stamens 10; carpels mostly 2, connate at least at the base, with axile placentas, ripening into a bilobed capsule or nearly distinct follicles; perennial herbs with the principal lvs usually in basal rosettes or crowded on basal shoots, the flowering stem commonly with few or no lvs, the fls mostly in branched, cymose or cymose-paniculate infls, rarely solitary and terminal. (Antiphylla, Chondrosea, Hydatica, Leptasea, Micranthes) 350, Arctic, N. Temp., Andes.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
  • Encyclopedia of Life
  • W3Tropicos
  • USDA PLANTS Database
  • Flora of North America
  • International Plant Names Index
  • Google Search Engine
  • Google Images
  • BOLD Systems - Barcode of Life Data Systems
  • Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI)
  • NCBI - National Center for Biotechnology Information
Species within inventory project: || << 1 - 50 taxa >>
Leptasea vanbruntiae
Images
not available
Luetkea pectinata
Image of Luetkea pectinata
Micranthes ferruginea
Image of Micranthes ferruginea
Micranthes galacifolia
Image of Micranthes galacifolia
Micranthes gormanii
Image of Micranthes gormanii
Micranthes hieraciifolia
Image of Micranthes hieraciifolia
Micranthes hitchcockiana
Images
not available
Micranthes micranthidifolia
Image of Micranthes micranthidifolia
Micranthes occidentalis
Image of Micranthes occidentalis
Micranthes odontoloma
Image of Micranthes odontoloma
Micranthes pensylvanica
Image of Micranthes pensylvanica
Micranthes reflexa
Image of Micranthes reflexa
Micranthes rhomboidea
Image of Micranthes rhomboidea
Micranthes saximontana
Image of Micranthes saximontana
Micranthes subapetala
Image of Micranthes subapetala
Micranthes tennesseensis
Image of Micranthes tennesseensis
Micranthes virginiensis
Image of Micranthes virginiensis
Saxifraga adscendens
Image of Saxifraga adscendens
Saxifraga aequidentata
Image of Saxifraga aequidentata
Saxifraga aizoides
Image of Saxifraga aizoides
Saxifraga aizoon
Image of Saxifraga aizoon
Saxifraga alaskana
Image of Saxifraga alaskana
Saxifraga aleutica
Image of Saxifraga aleutica
Saxifraga allioni
Image of Saxifraga allioni
Saxifraga amplexifolia
Image of Saxifraga amplexifolia
Saxifraga apetala
Image of Saxifraga apetala
Saxifraga aprica
Image of Saxifraga aprica
Saxifraga arachnoidea
Image of Saxifraga arachnoidea
Saxifraga aspera
Image of Saxifraga aspera
Saxifraga austromontana
Image of Saxifraga austromontana
Saxifraga bongardi
Image of Saxifraga bongardi
Saxifraga bracteata
Image of Saxifraga bracteata
Saxifraga bracteosa
Image of Saxifraga bracteosa
Saxifraga bronchialis
Image of Saxifraga bronchialis
Saxifraga brunonis
Image of Saxifraga brunonis
Saxifraga bryoides
Image of Saxifraga bryoides
Saxifraga bryophora
Image of Saxifraga bryophora
Saxifraga bulbifera
Image of Saxifraga bulbifera
Saxifraga caesia
Image of Saxifraga caesia
Saxifraga caespitosa
Image of Saxifraga caespitosa
Saxifraga californica
Image of Saxifraga californica
Saxifraga calycina
Image of Saxifraga calycina
Saxifraga careyana
Image of Saxifraga careyana
Saxifraga caroliniana
Image of Saxifraga caroliniana
Saxifraga cernua
Image of Saxifraga cernua
Saxifraga cespitosa
Image of Saxifraga cespitosa
Saxifraga cherlerioides
Image of Saxifraga cherlerioides
Saxifraga chrysantha
Image of Saxifraga chrysantha
Saxifraga claytoniifolia
Image of Saxifraga claytoniifolia
Saxifraga clusii
Images
not available
The National Science Foundation
Developments of SEINet, Symbiota, and associated specimen databases have been supported by National Science Foundation Grants (DBI 9983132, BRC 0237418, DBI 0743827, DBI 0847966)