Micranthes spicata |
Micranthes occidentalis |
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mountain saxifrage, redwool saxifrage, western saxifrage |
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Habit | Plants solitary or tufted, short, thick-rhizomatous. | Plants in groups or sometimes almost mat-forming, with bulbils on caudices or rhizomatous. |
Leaves | basal; petiole rounded, 4–15 cm; blade round, ovate, or reniform, 3–15 cm, thin, base cordate, margins serrate to dentate, ciliate, surfaces hairy to glabrate. |
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 | 15+-flowered, congested, spikelike thyrses, 15–50(–70) cm, tangled, pink- to 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, oblong to ovate; petals cream to yellowish, not spotted, oblong, not clawed, 3–4.5 mm, longer than sepals; filaments narrowly club-shaped; pistils connate at least 1/2 their lengths; ovary superior, (to 1/3 adnate to hypanthium). |
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, purplish tinged, ± folliclelike, (basally connate). |
greenish or reddish to ± dark purple, folliclelike. |
2n | = 20, 38, 40, 56, 58. |
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Micranthes spicata |
Micranthes occidentalis |
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Phenology | Flowering summer. | Flowering spring–summer. |
Habitat | Wet tundra, heaths, moist, rocky areas, streamsides | Wet, rocky or gravelly slopes, moist to dry alpine meadows, flushes |
Elevation | 0-1700 m (0-5600 ft) | 500-4000 m (1600-13100 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; YT |
AK; ID; MT; NV; OR; SD; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
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Discussion | 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.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 57. | FNA vol. 8, p. 62. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Saxifraga spicata | Saxifraga occidentalis, Saxifraga allenii, Saxifraga occidentalis var. allenii, Saxifraga occidentalis var. wallowensis, Saxifraga reflexa subsp. occidentalis, Saxifraga saximontana |
Name authority | (D. Don) Small: in N. L. Britton et al., N. Amer. Fl. 22: 146. (1905) | (S. Watson) Small: in N. L. Britton et al., N. Amer. Fl. 22: 144. 1905 , |
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