''Lithophragma glabrum'' is a slender
perennial
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...
western North American mountain plant in the Saxifrage family (
Saxifragaceae
Saxifragaceae is a family of herbaceous perennial flowering plants, within the core eudicot order Saxifragales. The taxonomy of the family has been greatly revised and the scope much reduced in the era of molecular phylogenetic analysis. The f ...
), known by the common names bulbous woodland star, bulbiferous prairie-star, smooth woodland star, and smooth rockstar.
[Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, Karen Wiese, 2nd ed, 2013, p. 90]
Habitat and range
It is native to western North America from
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
to
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
to
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
, where it grows in many types of habitat.
Growth pattern
It is a
rhizomatous
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...
perennial herb growing erect or leaning with a slender glandular-pubescent flowering stem.
Leaves and stems
The small leaves are mostly located on the lower part of the stem. Each is cut into five deep fingerlike lobes or divided into five leaflets which may be toothed.
Inflorescence and fruit
The stem bears 1 to 7 flowers, each in a cuplike calyx of hairy red or green
sepal
A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...
s. The five petals are white or pink-tinged, up to about 7 millimeters long, and divided into several, often five, toothlike lobes. Next to the flowers are
bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...
s with accompanying
bulb
In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...
lets.
The plant
reproduces when these bulblets drop to the ground and take root.
Southwest Colorado Wildflowers
/ref>
References
External links
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Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6648097
glabrum