''Mitella pentandra'', or ''Pectiantia pentandra'', is a species of flowering 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 fivestamen miterwort
or five-point bishop's cap.
[Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, Karen Wiese, 2013, p. 1999]
Range and habitat
''Mitella pentandra'' is native to much of western North America from
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
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 ...
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 moist, shady habitat such as meadows, woods, and mountain forests. In the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
, it grows at elevations between and can be found in stream banks and
wet meadow
A wet meadow is a type of wetland with soils that are saturated for part or all of the growing season. Debate exists whether a wet meadow is a type of marsh or a completely separate type of wetland. Wet prairies and wet savannas are hydrologically ...
s.
[
]
Description
''Mitella pentandra'' 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 tall. The leaves have oval blades several centimeters wide with edges divided into toothed lobes, and occur mostly around the base of the stem.
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, sometimes up to 25, usually along one side of the stem. The distinctive flower is saucer-shaped with five green petals which are divided into narrow, whiskerlike lobes.
References
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
pentandra
Flora of Alaska
Flora of Western Canada
Flora of the Western United States
Flora without expected TNC conservation status
{{Saxifragaceae-stub