''Mitella ovalis'' is a species of flowering plant in the

saxifrage family 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 fa ...

known by the common names coastal miterwort and oval-leaf miterwort. It is native to western North America from southwestern

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, ...

, including

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

, to northern

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 ...

as far south as

Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...

. It grows in moist, shady habitat, such as coastal forests and streambanks.

Description

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 up to about 35 or 40 centimeters tall. The leaves occur around the base of the stem. They have oval blades up to 5 centimeters wide with toothed, lobed edges. The erect

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

bears several flowers, generally 20 to 60, usually along one side of the stem. The distinctive flower is saucer-shaped with five greenish yellow petals which are divided into narrow, whisker-like lobes. The petiole is between 1.2 and 8 centimeters long. There are no cauline leaves. The 1 to 3 inflorescences with between 20 and 60 flowers per node. The pedicles are between 1 and 2 millimeters long. The seeds are either reddish-brown or blackish in color. The fruit type is a capsule. The bloom color is either yellow or green. The bloom period is between the months of April, May, and June.

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery

References

ovalis Ovalis, oval in Latin, may refer to: * Fossa ovalis (disambiguation) * Limbus of fossa ovalis The ''fossa ovalis'' is a depression in the right atrium of the heart, at the level of the interatrial septum, the wall between right and left atri ...

Flora of British Columbia Flora of the West Coast of the United States Flora of California Flora of Washington (state) Flora of Oregon Taxa named by Edward Lee Greene {{Saxifragaceae-stub