Not always yellow... Saxifraga aizoides

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17) Saxifraga, Heuchera and other Saxifragaceae

Gulsildre ("yellow saxifrage", Saxifraga aizoides) is common along mineral rich seepage lines in the alpine zone. The common color is yellow but you often encounter populations with orange or even near red flowers.

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Todd Boland's picture

Todd Boland

Mon, 07/26/2010 - 9:13am

That is another native species common in the limestone regions of northern newfoundland...however, I have only ever seen them in yellow.  The orange form is lovely!  One of our local members has a red form which is stunning as well.

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Mon, 07/26/2010 - 9:36pm

I've only noticed yellow ones in the wild here so far also.  The orange ones are spectacular!

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Sat, 01/28/2012 - 3:13pm

Here are some local examples of Saxifraga aizoides.
                 

Flora of Alberta notes its habitat as "alpine streams and talus".  However, one doesn't have to hike the high country to find it in this area, as it occurs down to fairly low elevations, for example, along the gravel floodplain of the Big and Little Elbow Rivers in Kananaskis and along the roadcuts and gravelly streamsides along Highway 93. The foliage, which Malcolm McGregor notes as "leaves more or less cylindrical" in his Saxifrages, is quite distinctive and recognizable among the other alpines that occur here.

Mark McDonough's picture

Mark McDonough

Sun, 01/29/2012 - 7:35am

I really like the orange ones, stunning color.  But I would be ever so happy to even grow a yellow one like the fine cushion that Lori showed.  I suspect there is moisture under the surface rocky detritus.  These do indeed have a very sedum-like quality to them.

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Sun, 01/29/2012 - 9:03am
McDonough wrote:

I really like the orange ones, stunning color.  But I would be ever so happy to even grow a yellow one like the fine cushion that Lori showed.  I suspect there is moisture under the surface rocky detritus.  These do indeed have a very sedum-like quality to them.

Well, Mark, all you have to do is to build a little watercourse (and don't forget - it has to be calcareous or at least mineral rich water). ;)

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Sun, 01/29/2012 - 9:40am

The plant in one of those photos is above the level of any obvious surface water flow but may very well have its roots down to a level where seepage moves through.

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Mon, 01/30/2012 - 10:25pm

I've seen the orange ones in photos- very nice! but have not seen it in person... I've seen the plant (yellow only) up (very) near the Athabasca Glacier at the Columbia Icefield site, where it was growing mostly alone, presumably a pioneer species, and much lower also, as Lori mentions, at the edge of a -lake? pond? that I've shown before, with Primula mistassinica, Tofieldia glutinosa etc... I have a little patch of this in a pot from a cutting from that site..

I forgot to add, they were always in wet gravelly and/or clayey soils where I saw them (the pond area is probably drier at times, but likely always moist down a bit farther).. I keep my pot standing in a saucer of water (its in a pot since I have not made a wet section of a bed to plant them yet..I may do something similar to the pot on a larger scale- soil/stones rising a bit out of some sort of container sunk in the soil which will hold water..

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Tue, 01/31/2012 - 9:08am

In Northern Norway many montane plants grow down to the sea level. Last summer when I visited Andøya (70oN) for a week. Saxifraga aizoides was common almost at the beach.
In Southern Norway it follows streams and rivers down to the coast some places. The yellow form is the commoner but orange or almost red forms exist too.