''Chrysosplenium'' (golden saxifrage or golden-saxifrage) is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the family

Saxifragaceae Saxifragaceae is a family of Herbaceous plant, herbaceous Perennial plant, perennial flowering plants, within the core eudicot Order (biology), order Saxifragales. The Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of the family has been greatly revised and the ...

. It includes 84 species found throughout the Arctic and northern temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere. The highest species diversity is in eastern

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, and some species are found disjunctly in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

.Soltis, D.E. (2001)
Phylogenetic relationships and evolution in ''Chrysosplenium'' (Saxifragaceae) based on matK sequence data
. ''Am J Bot'' 88:883-893 They are soft

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 ...

perennial plant In horticulture, the term perennial (''wikt:per-#Prefix, per-'' + ''wikt:-ennial#Suffix, -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annual plant, annuals and biennial plant, biennials. It has thus been d ...

s growing to 20 centimeters tall, typically in wet, shady locations in forests. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are rounded, palmately veined, with a lobed margin and arranged either alternately or opposite, depending on the species. The

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s are small, yellow or yellowish-green, with four petals; they are produced in small clusters at the apex of the shoots surrounded by leafy bracts. Most of the growth and flowering is in early spring, when more light is available under

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

trees.

Species

84 species are accepted. *'' Chrysosplenium absconditicapsulum'' *'' Chrysosplenium albertii'' *'' Chrysosplenium album'' *'' Chrysosplenium alpinum'' – alpine golden saxifrage *''

Chrysosplenium alternifolium ''Chrysosplenium alternifolium'' is a species of flowering plant in the saxifrage family known as the alternate-leaved golden-saxifrage. It is a mat-forming perennial of wet places that grows between tall. It blooms from March onward. Descript ...

Culinary uses

The leaves and stems of golden saxifrage ('' C. alternifolium'' and '' C. oppositifolium'') can be eaten in salads or as cooked greens.Crawford, Martin. How to grow Perennial Vegetables. Green Books, 2012, p. 114

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment
Saxifragaceae genera Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Saxifragaceae-stub