Saxifraga cernua

Nodding saxifrage ( Saxifraga cernua )

The Nodding saxifrage ( Saxifraga cernua ) is a species of the genus Saxifrage ( Saxifraga ) in the family Saxifragaceae ( Saxifragaceae ).

Features

The Nodding saxifrage is a perennial herbaceous plant that reaches stature heights of 10 to 15 centimeters. The stem is simple, erect, hairy and leafy, it is usually nodding above. The arranged in basal rosettes and alternate distributed on the stem leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The leaf blade is 10 to 20 millimeters wide, its outline is heart - to kidney- shaped, and they are divided to the middle into 3-7 broad lobes, in addition they are loosely glandular hairy. The uppermost stem leaves are unlobed, oblong- ovate and sessile. Are formed in the leaf axils brood nodules ( bulbils ) for vegetative propagation.

The stem bears only one flower. The five sepals are usually purple. The five white petals are narrowed from 8 to 12 mm up to four times as long as the blunt sepals, glabrous, obovate and thickness taper towards the bottom.

The flowering time is in July and August, depending on location.

The species has the chromosome number 2n = 60 or 64; but also occur the numbers 24, 48, 52, 56, about 68, 70 or 72 in the non-European Arctic.

Occurrence

The Nodding saxifrage is widely used in the arctic and subarctic regions of Eurasia and North America and comes in addition also in the high mountains of the temperate latitudes of the northern hemisphere. In the Alps, the species is very rare. The reserves are found in the subalpine to alpine altitudinal zone, at altitudes from 1800 to 2800 meters, caves, in damp shady rock heels and warehouses locations over limestone and gneiss.