ID?

Submitted by Lori S. on

I've come to realize I've misidentified the plant in these photos. It's not Romanzoffia sitchensis, as I had imagined - there is a vague resemblance to the leaf shape but the inflorescence is wrong. The plant was found among talus boulders where it was wet from snowmelt in mid-August at about 2500m elevation in Bow Valley Wildland Provincial Park, eastern slope Rockies, Alberta. The pictures are poor but I've blown them up as much as possible to show the detail. I thought it was a saxifrage, perhaps, but I can't match it up to any of those in Flora of Alberta. Does anyone recognize it? Thanks in advance.

Comments

Submitted by Lori S. on Sun, 01/20/2013 - 18:26

That does seem to be it!  Flora of Alberta has it under S. hyperborea but it looks like the name has gone back and forth - it says it was S. rivularis in Edition 1.  I'll correct my photos, postings, etc. to S. rivularis.
That one was bothering me for quite a while... I kept looking back at it and peering at the flowers but couldn't put my finger on what was wrong.
Thanks very much, Mark!   :)

Submitted by Mark McD on Sun, 01/20/2013 - 18:46

My pleasure Lori, I really like these sorts of ID teasers, better than playing trivial pursuit  ;)

Amazing what you can achieve these days doing web searches & google image searches, but being very selective with keywords, some trial and error is needed.  I love a good puzzle. :)

Submitted by cohan on Mon, 01/21/2013 - 12:27

Looks like a cute thing for a damp shady spot in the rock garden..