''Saxifraga cespitosa'', the tufted alpine saxifrage or tufted saxifrage, is a flower common to many arctic heights. It appears further south in mountainous areas of 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 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

, western

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

. Densely tufted from a stout

taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...

, the plant has very short stems with withered, dead

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

at the base. The leaves have three to five lobes; both leaves and calyx exhibit

trichomes Trichomes (); ) are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants, algae, lichens, and certain protists. They are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae. A covering of any kind of hair on a plant ...

in the form of glandular hair. Flowering stems range from 5–10 cm, with one or two flowers per stem. Its

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s are white, twice the length of the calyx lobes. Smaller specimens, with shorter stems and smaller, yellowish-greenish petals (with uniflorous variants), are rather frequent. The tufted saxifrage grows on ledges and gravelly places. It became a protected species in the UK in 1975 under the Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act. File:tuftedsaxifrage-1.jpg, Tufted saxifrage File:tuftedsaxifrage-2.jpg, Tufted saxifrage File:tuftedsaxifrage-3.jpg, Tufted saxifrage File:tuftedsaxifrage1-1.jpg, Tufted saxifrage File:Saxifraga cespitosa - Tuftedsaxifrage2-1.jpg, Smaller yellowish var. File:tuftedsaxifrage3-1.jpg, Smaller yellowish var. File:Saxifraga cespitosa - Tuftedsaxifrage4-1.jpg, Smaller var.

References

External links

* * cespitosa Flora of the Arctic Alpine flora Flora of Alaska Flora of Finland Flora of Russia Flora of Norway Flora of Siberia Flora of Iceland Flora of Switzerland Flora of the Alps Flora of Greenland Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Saxifragaceae-stub