Micranthes caroliniana (A. Gray) Small (redirected from: Saxifraga caroliniana)
Family: Saxifragaceae
[Saxifraga caroliniana A. Gray]
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Plants solitary or tufted, with bulbils on caudices. Leaves basal; petiole flattened, 1-10 cm; blade broadly ovate to elliptic, 2-14 cm, thin to slightly fleshy, base truncate, margins deeply dentate (teeth 2+ mm), sparsely glandular-ciliate, surfaces densely white-hairy. Inflorescences 15+-flowered, open, lax thyrses, 10-50 cm, purple-tipped stipitate-glandular. Flowers: sepals reflexed, oblong; petals white, with 2 basal yellow spots (distinct even in dried material), ovate to elliptic, short-clawed, 2-4 mm, much longer than sepals; filaments elongate, (longer than petals), club-shaped; pistils distinct almost to base; ovary superior. Capsules greenish to yellow, folliclelike.

Flowering spring. Moist soil at bases of vertical or overhanging rock outcrops, seeps; 500-1200 m; N.C., Tenn., Va., W.Va.

Stems 2-5 dm from a short, thick rhizome, branched above, with a large, open, paniculiform infl; blades of the basal lvs broadly oblong to ovate or subrotund, 5-10 נ3-7 cm, abruptly narrowed into a broad, winged petiole of about equal length, coarsely and saliently toothed, each tooth blunt or truncate under a lens; cauline lvs none; bracteal lvs lanceolate, 5-10 mm; sep soon reflexed; pet ovate, clawed, 3-4 mm, white with yellow spots below the middle; filaments clavate; seeds not spinulose. Rocky woods in the mts.; Va. and N.C. June. (Micranthes c.)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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