Micranthes stellaris |
Micranthes spicata |
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saxifrage étoilée, starry saxifrage |
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Habit | Plants tufted or mat-forming, with ± branched caudices or stolonlike rhizomes. | Plants solitary or tufted, short, thick-rhizomatous. |
Leaves | basal; petiole ± absent; blade obovate to elliptic, 1–5 cm, ± fleshy, base cuneate, margins 1–3-toothed in distal 1/2, ciliate, surfaces hairy. |
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. |
Inflorescences | 2–10-flowered, open, lax cymes, sometimes solitary flowers, (all or some flowers replaced with bulbils, bulbils sometimes absent), 5–20 cm, sparsely to moderately purple-tipped stipitate-glandular. |
15+-flowered, congested, spikelike thyrses, 15–50(–70) cm, tangled, pink- to purple-tipped stipitate-glandular. |
Flowers | sepals reflexed, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate; petals white, each with 1–2 basal yellow spots, lanceolate, clawed, 3–8 mm (2 often slightly larger), longer than sepals; filaments linear, flattened; pistils connate 1/2+ their lengths; ovary superior, (to 1/3 adnate to hypanthium). |
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). |
Capsules | green to purple, valvate. |
green, purplish tinged, ± folliclelike, (basally connate). |
2n | = 28. |
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Micranthes stellaris |
Micranthes spicata |
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Phenology | Flowering summer. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Mossy tundra near streams, rocky, gravelly seepage areas | Wet tundra, heaths, moist, rocky areas, streamsides |
Elevation | 0-500 m (0-1600 ft) | 0-1700 m (0-5600 ft) |
Distribution |
LB; NU; QC; Greenland; Europe |
AK; YT |
Discussion | Micranthes stellaris is amphi-Atlantic. In Nunavut, it is known only from Baffin Island. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 57. | FNA vol. 8, p. 57. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Saxifraga stellaris | Saxifraga spicata |
Name authority | (Linnaeus) Galasso: Atti Soc. Ital. Sci. Nat. Mus. Civico Storia Nat. Milano 146: 231. (2005) | (D. Don) Small: in N. L. Britton et al., N. Amer. Fl. 22: 146. (1905) |
Web links |