Yellow mountain saxifrage likes a maritime climate and damp, calciferous soil, which it finds in Finland on the nutritious fells of Kilpisjärvi in Finlandââ¬â¢s north-western ââ¬Åarmââ¬Â, but it is rare elsewhere in Lapland. Yellow mountain saxifrage usually grows in the lower tundra zone but it also finds suitable habitats among mountain birch woodland and even in the coniferous forest belt: Liikasenvaara in Kuusamo has very separate stands from its main habitat. Here it grows along spring streams.
On the basis of yellow mountain saxifrageââ¬â¢s current habitat, it is probable that it has spent the worst of the Ice Age in the east and then spread to the moraines that were being revealed as the ice retreated. As the climate warmed up and the forest began to take over, things began to get tougher for yellow mountain saxifrage and other fell species. Finlandââ¬â¢s fell species have only survived in exceptionally boggy places. Yellow mountain saxifrage is one of the winners, however, as it still has a handful of places that it grows: part of the tundra species from the end of the Ice Age have since disappeared from Finland.
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