PlantWatch

Saxifrage, Purple (Saxifraga oppositifolia)

Photo by Halle Flygare

Also known as: french knot moss
French name: saxifrage à feuilles opposées
Bloom time: April to May
Report for: YK, NT, NU, BC, AB, MB, ON, QC

General: Low, matted cushion plant.

Leaves & Twigs: The plant's short stems are completely covered by many tiny (3–6 mm) pairs of overlapping, grey-green, scale-like leaves.

Flowers & Fruit: Purple (and rarely, white), star-shaped flowers (1 cm wide) are large in comparison to the leaves. Flowers grow on short stalks, often in great profusion, above the cushion of leaves.

Habitat: This species of saxifrage occupies moist, calcium-rich gravel areas in arctic and alpine environments. It also colonizes barren, exposed rock and damp crevices in cliffs.

Sampling: If these plants are very abundant, mark a patch 1-metre square to observe. Otherwise, tag a single cushion plant. The whole cushion plant tends to flower at once.

To Observe:

• First bloom: when the first flowers are open in the observed plants.
• Mid bloom: when the first flower petal on any individual flower wrinkles or loses its colour in the observed plants.