Unknown plant, NE Alberta

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Plant Identification

I hate to give up but I'm drawing a blank on the identity of this plant that I saw along the shores of the Clearwater River in NE Alberta this fall! Does anyone know what it is? It may be something that is adapted to saline conditions, as there were many saline springs along the banks in this area.
Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Comments

Middleton's picture

Middleton (not verified)

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 8:27pm

Nice looking plant!  The seed head looks similar to burnet but the leaves scream saxifrage.  Long shot googling for saxifraga with elongated flowers brought up the genus Leptarrhena pyrolifolia on the Saxifrage Society web page.  Probably not the answer but it was fun looking!
Sharon

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Sat, 11/03/2012 - 8:58am

Thanks very much for the suggestions, Sharon and Trond.
Leptarrhena pyrolifolia is alpine/subalpine, and I'm somewhat familiar with it (from having to figure out the difference between it and another alpine Saxifragaceae,  Saxifraga occidentalis, which I'm frequently mixing it up with!)

The suggestion of the genus Ranunculus seems very promising.  R. rhomboideus doesn't seem quite right (it's "rather densely hirsute", along with leaf differences).   I'll go through the Ranunculus key and see if I can find a match.    :)

McGregorUS's picture

McGregorUS (not verified)

Sun, 11/04/2012 - 1:20am

... and Ranunculus cymbalaria is a salt adapted species so it helps confirm.

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Sun, 11/04/2012 - 10:16am

Thanks, Trond and Malcolm.  In retrospect, I'm kicking myself for not twigging onto Ranunculus as a starting point!

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Tue, 11/06/2012 - 11:17am

Looks like a cute one- glad you found a name! There are a a few small Ranunculus around here that I haven't sorted out, but I don't think I've seen this one..
Were any of the seeds ripe? Seems like it must be a late flowering species if seeds were unripe so late..