Saxifraga bronchialis is a perennial herb in the family Saxifragaceae, with the common name matte saxifrage or spotted saxifrage.[1][2] It is native to northern Asia and North America.

Saxifraga bronchialis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Saxifragales
Family: Saxifragaceae
Genus: Saxifraga
Species:
S. bronchialis
Binomial name
Saxifraga bronchialis
L.
Star-shaped flower with five strap shaped, white petals. Petals are spotted with 12-25 colorful dots. These dots are pale yellow near the base of each petal and the colors change continuously through orange and red to magenta near the tip of each petal. 9 stamens are visible distal to the petals. The ovary consists of two carpels mostly fused with a single style and a single stigmatic surface.
Close-up of a single flower of Saxifraga bronchialis in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA.

Description

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Matte saxifrage is a short perennial mat-forming plant. The mat consists of an extended cluster of leaf rosettes growing from a rhizome, each rosette consisting of densely overlapping lanceolate entire leathery leaves up to 1.5 cm long with prominent short stiff hairs on the margin and terminated by a spine-like tip about 1 mm long. Leaves are green, often with reddish tips and lower surfaces. The green to red floral stem is up to 20 cm tall and is sparsely covered with similar but smaller leaves, terminating in a branched cluster of 2 to 15 flowers (usually 3 to 5), each with five white to yellowish-white oblong petals with small dark red to yellow spots. Each flower has several prominent long white stamens that radiate above the petals and a roughly cone-shaped white ovary in the center (superior). Though each flower is small, plants can form extended mats and often produce a showy profusion of flowers in season.[1]

Range

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Matte saxifrage ranges from Russia to Alaska and northern and western Canada and the American Pacific Northwest. It is also found in high mountains in Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico.[1]

Habitat

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Matte saxifrage grows in alpine and subalpine open areas on rocks and in rock cracks, in scree, and in rocky soils.

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Flora of North America".
  2. ^ Hitchcock, C.L. and Cronquist, A. 2018. Flora of the Pacific Northwest, 2nd Edition, p. 116. University of Washington Press, Seattle.
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