Nearctica - Eastern Wildflowers - Saxifragaceae - Swamp Saxifrage (Saxifraga pensylvanica)

Swamp Saxifrage

(Saxifraga pensylvanica)

Color Photograph: USDA, NRCS, 1995-Midwestern Wetland Flora.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

Swamp Saxifrage (Saxifraga pensylvanica L.)

Identification: Flowers small, usually white, but may be greenish or purplish. Flower with 5 elongate, narrow, pointed petals and a ring of stamens. Flowers arranged in a branched, open spike with small, pointed bracts at the base of each flower branch. Leaves in a basal rosette, each leaf large, elongate with a blunt apex, a smooth outer margin, and a long tapering base. Plant 1 to 3.5 feet.

Distribution: Minnesota in the west to New England in the east, southward to Virginia and Missouri.

Habitat: Swamp Saxifrage is found in swamps and wet meadows.

Flowering period: May to June.

Similar Species: Swamp Saxifrage is a much larger species than Early Saxifrage (4 to 10 inches in height). The leaves of Early Saxifrage are not as elongate and the outer margins are toothed.