Micranthes pensylvanica |
Micranthes occidentalis |
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eastern swamp saxifrage, marsh, marsh saxifrage, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania saxifrage, swamp saxifrage, swamp small-flower-saxifrage |
mountain saxifrage, redwool saxifrage, western saxifrage |
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Habit | Plants solitary or in groups, with thick, fleshy rhizomes. | Plants in groups or sometimes almost mat-forming, with bulbils on caudices or rhizomatous. |
Leaves | basal; petiole indistinct, flattened, 3–10 cm; blade linear or elliptic to ovate, 6–25 cm, fleshy, base attenuate, margins entire or subentire, ciliate, surfaces usually densely short-hairy, often tangled brown-hairy along proximal midveins. |
basal; petiole flattened, 1–5 cm; blade ovate to elliptic, 1.5–3.5 cm, ± fleshy, base ± attenuate to ± truncate, margins shallowly, sharply serrate, ciliate, surfaces sparsely tangled, reddish brown-hairy abaxially, glabrous adaxially. |
Inflorescences | (30–)50+-flowered, open, often lax thyrses, 25–125 cm, purple-tipped stipitate-glandular. |
usually (10–)30+-flowered, flowers crowded into 1+ glomerules in thyrses with ascending branches, 8–30 cm, purple-tipped stipitate-glandular; (bracts glabrous or marginally glandular-ciliate). |
Flowers | sepals reflexed, triangular to ovate; petals white to cream or rarely purple, not spotted, linear to narrowly elliptic, not clawed or slightly clawed, 2–3 mm, longer than sepals; filaments linear, flattened; pistils connate to 1/2 their lengths; ovary 1/2+ inferior, appearing superior in fruit. |
sepals ascending to spreading, sometimes reflexed in fruit, ovate to oblong, (surfaces glabrous); petals white, not spotted (spots rarely present), obovate to almost round, clawed, 2–4 mm, to 1.5 times as long as sepals; filaments linear to very slightly widened near anthers, flattened; pistils distinct almost to base; ovary ± superior. |
Capsules | green, folliclelike. |
greenish or reddish to ± dark purple, folliclelike. |
2n | = 56, 84, 112. |
= 20, 38, 40, 56, 58. |
Micranthes pensylvanica |
Micranthes occidentalis |
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Phenology | Flowering spring. | Flowering spring–summer. |
Habitat | Marshy meadows, mucky seepages in woods, swamp forests, montane bogs and seeps | Wet, rocky or gravelly slopes, moist to dry alpine meadows, flushes |
Elevation | 100-1400 m (300-4600 ft) | 500-4000 m (1600-13100 ft) |
Distribution |
CT; DE; IA; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; MB; ON; SK
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AK; ID; MT; NV; OR; SD; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
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Discussion | Purple-petalled populations of Micranthes pensylvanica have been known as Saxifraga purpuripetala and are found in Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Micranthes occidentalis appears closely related to the little-known M. mexicana (Engler & Irmscher) Brouillet & Gornall from Chihuahua, Mexico. The latter is the only species of the genus that occurs in Mexico and not in the United States. Micranthes occidentalis is disjunct between the northern Rocky Mountains and the Cypress Hills of southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan, and the Black Hills of South Dakota. It hybridizes with M. idahoensis where their ranges overlap. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 67. | FNA vol. 8, p. 62. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Saxifraga pensylvanica, M. pensylvanica var. purpuripetala, Saxifraga forbesii, Saxifraga pensylvanica var. forbesii, Saxifraga pensylvanica subsp. interior, Saxifraga pensylvanica var. purpuripetala, Saxifraga pensylvanica subsp. tenuirostrata, Saxifraga purpuripetala | Saxifraga occidentalis, Saxifraga allenii, Saxifraga occidentalis var. allenii, Saxifraga occidentalis var. wallowensis, Saxifraga reflexa subsp. occidentalis, Saxifraga saximontana |
Name authority | (Linnaeus) Haworth: Saxifrag. Enum., 45. (1821) | (S. Watson) Small: in N. L. Britton et al., N. Amer. Fl. 22: 144. 1905 , |
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