''Saxifraga cuneifolia'', the lesser Londonpride,
shield-leaved saxifrage or spoon-leaved saxifrage, is a
herbaceous
Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials.
Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous"
The fourth edition of t ...
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 ...
plant belonging to the
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 fa ...
family.
Etymology
''Saxifraga cuneifolia'' was first described by
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
in the 1759
10th edition of ''
Systema Naturae
' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...
''. The Latin word "Saxifraga" means literally "stone-breaker", from Latin "saxum" meaning "stone" + "frangere" meaning "to break". It is usually explained by reference to certain saxifrages' ability to settle in the cracks of rocks. The species' Latin epithet ''cuneifolia'' means “wedge-shaped leaves”.
Description
''Saxifraga cuneifolia'' reaches on average in height.
[Pignatti S. - Flora d'Italia – Edagricole – 1982. Vol. I, pag. 509] The stem is woody and creeping. The leaves are alternate and arranged in a basal rosette. They are fleshy and slightly leathery, wedge-shaped, obovate or roundish and notched on the margins. The flowers are gathered in a loose and irregularly branched inflorescence, with 5-15 flowers.
[ The five petals are white, 2.5 to 4 mm long.][ The flowering period extends from May through July.][ Pollination is by insects. The fruit is a capsule.
]
Distribution
Lesser Londonpride is a native of the mountains of central and southern Europe, from northwestern Spain over the Pyrenees
The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...
, the Cevennes, the Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
and the Apennines
The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...
, up to the eastern and southern Carpathians
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The ...
and the north of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.[
]
Habitat
This plant grows in woods (mainly beech or chestnut), on shaded rocks and boulders. It occurs mainly in humid areas with humus rich soil, at an altitude of above sea level.[
]
References
External links
Biolib
Gardening
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1450959
cuneifolia
Flora of Europe
Flora of the Alps
Flora of the Pyrenees
Plants described in 1759
Garden plants of Europe
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus