

Some Notes on Saxifraga and Primula 



By K. M. Wiegand 



Saxifraga bronchialis L. 



Densely caespitose, glabrous : stems divaricately ascending, 

 rather stout (4-9 cm. high, 1 mm. diameter), rarely purplish : leaves 

 thick and firm, densely clustered at the base, 7—12 mm. x 1 .7 5 — 

 2.5 mm., oblong-linear, not narrowed below, abruptly acute 

 and white cuspidate, spinulosely ciliate to the apex or nearly so, 

 cauline similar but much smaller (5-6 mm. x 1— 1 . 5 mm.) : flowers 

 few (1—7), in aflat-topped sparingly glandular cyme, on short (8 

 mm. or less) rather stout peduncles and sometimes in the larger 

 plants appearing secundly racemose : calyx-lobes short- oblong or 

 oblong-ovate (2-2.25 mm. long), obtuse or acutish : petals pale 

 greenish-yellow, orange spotted below the middle (6.5 mm. x 2.75- 

 3 mm.), broadly elliptical or oval, rounded at the apex, broadly un- 

 guiculate at the base : stamens equaling or slightly exceeding the 

 corolla : ovary large and prominent, oblong-ovate : styles 2 /> 3 the 

 length of the ovary. ) 



Across northern Siberia to Alaska. 



Specimens examined : Emma Harbor (Capt. Scammon, West. 

 U. Teleg. Exp. Exped. 1865-66); Plover Bay, lat. 64 (E. E. 

 Smith, same Exped.) ; Disenchantment Bay (Funston, no. 91). 



The specimens of *S. bronchialis which have come to the her- 

 barium from the far Northwest are so distinctly different in appear- 

 ance from those commonly obtained upon the mountains of 

 Idaho, Colorado and New Mexico that investigations were in- 

 stigated to determine the significance of these differences. The 

 numerous and marked differential characters given below leave no 

 doubt that the two forms are specifically distinct. 



The locality given by Linnaeus for this species was Siberia. 

 No specimens from that country were available for this study, but 

 the description given by Ledebour and others show that the 

 Alaskan specimens are identical with the Asiatic. 



The var. chclerioides Engler is found on the northwest coast, 

 and differs from the type in being more delicate, with shorter more 

 obtuse densely imbricated leaves, and smaller flowers, with smaller 

 more nearly sessile petals. 



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