Gorman’s saxifrage

Saxifraga gormanii Suksdorf, Torreya 23: 106. 1923 (as gormani); S. occidentalis S. Watson var. dentata (Engler & Irmscher) C. L. Hitchcock

Plants in groups or, sometimes, almost mat-forming, rhizom-atous. Leaves basal; petiole flattened, 5-7.5 cm; blade ovate to elliptic, 3-4 cm, fleshy, base attenuate, margins shallowly crenate-serrate, sparsely ciliate, surfaces tangled, reddish brown-hairy. Inflorescences (10-) 30+-flowered, open, lax, strongly divaricately branched, conic thyrses, 8-30 cm, purple-tipped stipitate-glandular; (bracts glabrous, proximal marginally ciliate). Flowers: sepals ascending, ovate to oblong, (margins eciliate, surfaces glabrous); petals white, not spotted, obovate to ± round, clawed, ca. 2 mm, ca. 1.5 times as long as sepals; filaments linear, flattened; pistils distinct almost to base; ovary nearly 1/3 inferior, (to 1/3 adnate to hypanthium). Capsules greenish to reddish purple, folliclelike. 2n = 20, 38, 40.

Flowering spring. Wet, rocky ledges and slopes; 0-1000 m; Oreg., Wash.