SAXIFRAGE FAMILY 



119 



7:78 (1892), type loc. 8 mi. nw. of Whitney Mdws., Kern Eiver, Coville 1705. S. sierrae Small, 

 Bull. Ton-. Club 23:366 (1896). Micranthes sierrae Hel. Muhl. 2:52 (1905). M. montana 

 Small, N. Am. Fl. 22:138 (1905), type loe. Pyramid Peak, 2^'. M. Meigs (this rests on ovate, not 

 obovate petals). 



2. S. aprica Greene. Sierra Saxifrage. (Fig. 147.) Plants mostly pur- 

 plish, 1% to 4^ inches high; scapes glabrous or subglabrous, but sparingly pubes- 

 cent with gland-tipped hairs at base ; pedicels glabrous ; leaf -blades oblong-ovate or 

 spatulate-obovate, dentate to entire, glabrous, 



3 to 13 lines long, subsessile or shortly petioled; 

 flowers small, capitate, the heads 2 to 5 lines 

 wide; petals ovate, oblong or spatulate, little ex- 

 ceeding the erect calyx-lobes; stamens filiform; 

 styles very short. 



High montane, dry stony places, 7000 to 

 11,200 feet : Sierra Nevada from Tulare Co. to 

 Tehama Co. July-Oct. 



Locs. — Above Mineral King (Contrib. U. S. Nat. 

 Herb. 4:98); Kearsarge Pinnacles, Jepson 847; Euby 

 Lake, nw. Inyo Co., ace. Peirson; Kaiser Peak, A. L. 

 Grant 1442; Mt. Lyell, Jepson 3326; Mt. Dana, F. P. 

 McLean; Grass Lake, Fallen Leaf, Pendleton Sf Seed 

 1021; Mt. Tallac, Ottley 782; Donner Lake, Sonne 354; 

 Lassen Peak, E. M. Aiistin 405. 



Refs. — Saxifraga aprica Greene, Bull. Torr. Club 

 23:25 (1896). S. umbellulata Greene, Erythea 1:122 

 (1893), type loc. Donner Pass, Greene, not S. umbellu- 

 lata Hook. f. & Thorns. (1858). Micranthes aprica 

 Small, N. Am. Fl. 22:136 (1905). Onr plant has been 

 described under the name S. nivalis by Brewer & Watson 

 (Bot. Cal. 1:194), by Greene (Fl. Fr. 189) and by Jep- 

 son (Man, 455). S. nivalis L. is arctic and circumpolar, 

 but extends in modified forms southward in high moun- 

 tains to the temperate zone. Linnaeus doubtless knew 

 best the plant of the Scandinavian region. That plant 

 is noticeably villous, both on the stem and leaves; the 

 leaves are disposed to be broadly ovate, coarsely crenate 

 at the middle and above, with a cuneatish base; the in- 

 florescence is paniculate, though sometimes condensed 

 and subcapitate. While very closely allied, the two species, S. nivalis L. and S. aprica Greene, are 

 unlike in their broader aspects, though most differences are inconstant save that of pubescence. 



3. S. nidifica Greene. Peak Saxifrage. Scapes 5 to 13 inches high, pubescent 

 with short spreading gland-tipped hairs; leaf -blades ovate, entire or merely den- 

 ticulate, % to 1^ inches long, commonly glabrous, sometimes slightly villous, nar- 

 rowed to a broad petiole; flowers disposed in cymules, the cymules borne in a com- 

 monly narrow panicle; branches of the panicle pubescent like the scape, the pedi- 

 cels commonly glabrous, sometimes slightly glandular-pubescent; petals roundish- 

 obovate, % to 1^4 lines long. 



Wet meadows, wet rocks or by streamlets, 2000 to 9500 feet : Sierra Nevada 

 from Tulare Co. to Modoc Co.; North Coast Ranges from Lake Co. to Siskiyou Co. 

 June-July. 



This species is closely allied to Saxifraga aprica and is very variable, so that the differences 

 between the two species tend to disappear, saving only that of pubescence. Even this remaining 

 distinction is, however, one merely of degree and not of kind. In the Sierra Nevada at high alti- 

 tudes the inflorescence may sometimes become much condensed or even capitate (as in plants from 

 Denels Peak), thus resembling S. aprica. In the Coast Ranges the scapes sometimes become quite 

 glandular, a condition well shovm in specimens from Lake Co. The leaves of S. nidifica tend to 

 have a narrow reddish margin. 



Locs.— Sierra Nevada: Denels Peak, Tulare Co., Hall ^ BalcocTc 5519; Black Mt., Fresno 

 Co., Eall 4- Chandler 612; Glacier Pt., Yosemite, Hall 9143; Angora Lake, Eldorado Co., M. S. 

 Baker; Truckee road to Tahoe, Sonne 90 ; Forestdale, Big Valley, Modoc Co., M. S. BaTcer ; War- 

 ner Range, Modoc Co., Manning 33. North Coast Ranges: Kelseyville, Lake Co., BlanUnship; 



Fig. 147. Saxifraga aprica Greene. 

 a, habit, X 1; &, fl., X 4; c, fr., X 4; 

 d, cross sect, of ovary, X 10, 



