Micranthes idahoensis (Piper) Brouillet & Gornall  
Family: Saxifragaceae
Idaho Pseudosaxifrage
[Saxifraga occidentalis var. idahoensis (Piper) C.L. Hitchc.]
Micranthes idahoensis image
  • FNA
  • Resources
Luc Brouillet, Patrick E. Elvander in Flora of North America (vol. 8)
Plants solitary or tufted, with bulbils on caudices. Leaves basal; petiole flattened, 1-5 cm; blade ovate to elliptic, 1-4 cm, ± fleshy, base attenuate, margins shallowly serrate to dentate (teeth usually to 1 mm), sparsely ciliate, surfaces tangled, reddish brown-hairy abaxially, glabrate adaxially. Inflorescences 15+-flowered, open thyrses, (flowers ± crowded at tips, becoming more open in fruit), 10-40 cm, purple-tipped stipitate-glandular. Flowers: sepals reflexed, ovate to oblong; petals white, with 2 basal yellow spots (often faded when dried), elliptic to ovate, clawed to nearly not clawed, 1-3.5 mm, ± equaling sepals; filaments club-shaped, not petaloid, (equaling petals); pistils distinct almost to base; ovary superior, (to 1/3 adnate to hypanthium). Capsules green to reddish purple, folliclelike. 2n = 20. Flowering spring-early summer. Open ledges and slopes; 500-2500 m; Idaho, Mont., Oreg., Wash. Micranthes idahoensis appears to hybridize with M. occidentalis where their ranges overlap. Intermediates are abundant in some populations along the Idaho-Montana border and in Montana. This phenomenon may explain the range of filament shapes found in M. occidentalis, from flattened to sightly club-shaped. The issue of the status of M. idahoensis with respect to M. marshallii (D. L. Krause and K. I. Beamish 1972) is best deferred until a thorough study of the whole complex over its entire range is done.

Micranthes idahoensis
Open Interactive Map
Micranthes idahoensis image
Micranthes idahoensis image
Micranthes idahoensis image
Micranthes idahoensis image
Micranthes idahoensis image
Micranthes idahoensis image
Micranthes idahoensis image
Micranthes idahoensis image
Micranthes idahoensis image
Micranthes idahoensis image
Micranthes idahoensis image
Click to Display
12 Total Images