 |
 |
Common Name: Michaux's Saxifrage
Scientific Name: Saxifraga michauxii
Family: Saxifragaceae
Blue Ridge Parkway
North Carolina
June 3, 2002
|
|
Although this wildflower could be mistaken for brook lettuce (Saxifraga micranthidifolia), take a closer look and you will find many differences. While both plants may grow on seepage slopes, Michaux's saxifrage will tolerate drier and sunnier sites. It is the only saxifrage in the park with bilaterally symmetrical flowers. Also, Michaux's grows only at high elevation, while brook lettuce is seldom found above 4,500 feet. Michaux's saxifrage lives only in the southern Appalachians. It is one of the first plants to colonize high elevation landslide scars in the park. The species name {michauxii} honors the plant's discoverer, Andre Michaux (1746-1802). Michaux, botanist for King Louis XVI of France, collected many plants in North America. June-August [White, Peter, Wildflowers of the Smokies. Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association, Gatlinburg, 1996]
The coarsely serrate, obovate, or oblanceolate basal leaves are 2 - 4 inches or more long. The widely branched flower stalks of these perennials may be 4 - 20 inches tall; the flowers of this species are zygomorphic. A species limited generally to the southern Appalachian region, these plants grow in the crevices of moist rocks and on seepage slopes in our mountains. June - August [Justice, William S. and Bell, C. Ritchie, Wild Flowers of North Carolina. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1968]
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Alphabetical Listings -- A B C D, E F G H I, J, K L M N, O P Q, R S T U, V W X, Y, Z
Family Listings -- A B C D, E F G H I, J, K L M N, O P Q, R S T U, V W X, Y, Z
Genus Listings -- A B C D, E F G H I, J, K L M N, O P Q, R S T U, V W X, Y, Z