Yellow mountain-saxifrage almost always grows in the company of butterwort and birds-eye primrose. All three of them prefer the cold, wet, shale cliff environment. The genus name Saxifraga is a combination of the words saxum, a stone, and frangere, to break, referring to the granular bulblets of European plants which were supposed to dissolve kidney stones. The species name comes from its resemblance to the succulent plants of the genus Aizoon of the old world.
Name also: Yellow Saxifrage, Evergreen Saxifrage
Family: Saxifrage Family ââ¬â Saxifragaceae
Growing form: Perennial herb. Loosely tuftedââ¬âoccasionally forms stands.
Height: 5ââ¬â15 cm 2ââ¬â6 in.. Stem ascending, abundantly leaved.
Flower: Corolla regular actinomorphic, yellow and often red-spotted, sometimes reddish yellow or purplish red, 8ââ¬â15 mm 0.32ââ¬â0.6 in. wide; petals five, 3ââ¬â6 mm 0.12ââ¬â0.24 in. long, same length as calyx. Sepals 5, narrow, glabrous, with membranous margin. Stamens 10, yellow. Styles 2, fused at base. Inflorescence a 1ââ¬â2-flowered corymb.
Leaves: Alternate, stalkless. Blade narrowly lanceolateââ¬âlinear, bristle-tipped, with entire margins or sometimes with sparse, small teeth, sparsely ciliate, fleshy, light greenââ¬âreddish.
Fruit: 2-parted, approx. 7 mm 0.28 in. long capsule.
Habitat: Fell springs, river and stream banks, damp rocks and river banks, rich swamps in the coniferous forest zone. Calciphile.
Flowering time: Juneââ¬âAugust.
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