Michaux’s saxifrage

Hexaphoma petiolaris Rafinesque, Fl. Tellur. 2: 67. 1837; Saxifraga michauxii Britton; S. petiolaris (Rafinesque) Bush

Plants solitary or tufted, with bulbils on caudices. Leaves basal; petiole somewhat flat-tened, 2-6 cm; blade oblance-olate, 2-12 cm, thin, base cuneate to ± attenuate, margins usually 15+-toothed (teeth large, lobelike), densely long glandular-ciliate, surfaces hairy. Inflorescences 30+-flowered, very open, lax thyrses, (flowers rarely replaced by bulbils), 10-40 cm, densely tangled, purple-tipped stipitate-glandular; (bracts leaflike, gradually reduced distally). Flowers slightly bilaterally symmetric; sepals reflexed, oblong to elliptic; petals white, 3 with 2 basal yellow spots, 2 without spots, oblanceolate to spatulate, clawed, 3-4.5 mm, longer than sepals; filaments linear, flattened; pistils connate 1/2+ their lengths; ovary superior. Capsules green to yellow, sometimes purple tinged, valvate

Flowering late spring-early autumn. Wet ledges, boulderfields, and rocky slopes, usually in thin soil over rock; 500-2100 m; Ga., Ky., Md., N.C., S.C., Tenn., Va., W.Va.

Micranthes petiolaris (Rafinesque) Brouillet & Gornall is an isonym.