Palmer’s saxifrage

Saxifraga palmeri Bush; S. virginiensis Michaux var. subintegra Goodman

Plants solitary or in clumps, with bulbils on caudices. Leaves basal; petiole flattened, 1-9 cm; blade ovate to elliptic, 2-8 cm, slightly fleshy, base attenuate, margins entire or subentire, ciliate, surfaces tangled, reddish brown-hairy. Inflorescences 30+-flowered, (flowers sometimes almost secund), very open, lax thyrses, 6-50 cm, hairy proximally, densely so distally. Flowers: sepals erect to ascending, ovate to triangular; petals white, not spotted, broadly oblong to elliptic, not clawed, 3-6 mm, 2+ times as long as sepals; filaments linear, flattened; pistils distinct almost to base; ovary ± superior, (to 1/3 adnate to hypanthium). Capsules green with reddish or purplish tinge, or reddish purple, folliclelike.

Flowering spring. Rocky, open woodlands; 100-1000 m; Ark., Okla.