Species: Dryas drummondii var. drummondii Richards. ex Hook.

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Dryas drummondii var. drummondii Richards. ex Hook.

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TAXONOMY

Family:

Rosaceae

Genus:

Dryas

Species Synonyms:

none

Common Names:

yellow mountain avens
yellow dryad
Drummond’s dryad

DISTRIBUTION

Canada:

Yukon – Mackenzie District – northwestern Saskatchewan, south to central British Columbia – southwestern Alberta, eastern Quebec – Newfoundland, isolated on Lake Superior north shore

Saskatchewan:

northwestern Saskatchewan; Lake Athabasca north shore – Carswell Lake

Ecoregion:

Athabasca Plain, Tazin Lake Upland

HABITAT

Saskatchewan:

calcareous rock outcrops

RARITY STATUS

Provincial Status According
to Harms (2003):

Endangered

Nature Conservancy Status:

G5 S1

Saskatchewan Species at
Risk Status:

None

COSEWIC Status:

None

Yellow mountain avens is endangered because of extreme rarity in Saskatchewan. It is regionally restricted to one general region of the province. No threats are known or anticipated for this species at this time.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION

Height:

mat-forming shrubs

Stems:

young branches white woolly

Leaves:

1 – 3 cm long, elliptic to egg-shaped, base wedge-shaped, apex rounded, densely white woolly below, dark green above, margin coarsely round-toothed

Inflorescence:

flowers solitary; flower stalk 5 – 20 cm long, woolly

Flowers:

hypanthium black glandular-hairy; sepals 8 – 10-merous, black glandular-hairy, oval; petals 8 – 10-merous yellow, strongly ascending; stamens numerous; carpels numerous

Fruits:

aggregate of achenes; styles feathery in fruit, 3 – 5 cm long

ROSACEAE KEY FOR GENERA FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN

1 Shrubs or trees	2
1 Herbs, may have a woody base	11

2 Leaves compound	3
2 Leaves simplery	6

3 Ovary inferior or appearing inferior; seeds enclosed in a fleshy hypanthium (hip or apple-like)	4
3 Ovary superior; fruits aggregates of seeds or one-seeded, fleshy fruits (raspberry)	5

4 Flowers numerous, white, small (to about 1 cm wide); thorns and prickles absent; fruit apple-like with 2 – 4 seeds	Sorbus
4 Flowers solitary to few, rose-coloured, larger; thorns and/or prickles present; fruit a hip with many seeds	Rosa

5 Fruit a raspberry on an enlarged, spongy receptacle; petals white to pink; flowers in unbranched clusters; stems often prickly	Rubus
5 Fruit an aggregate of seeds, receptacle not spongy; petals white or yellow; flowers solitary or in branched clusters; stems not prickly	Dasiphora

6 Ovary inferior or apparently inferior; seeds enclosed in the enlarged, fleshy hypanthium (apple-like but smaller)	7
6 Ovary superior; fruits one-seeded and fleshy, one-seeded and not fleshy, pods, or capsules	9

7 Stems commonly armed with thorns; leaves usually lobed or incised	Crataegus
7 Stems always unarmed; leaves rarely lobed or incised	8

8 Leaves entire; flowers pinkish	Cotoneaster
8 Leaves toothed at the tip; flowers whitish	Amelanchier

9 Fruit a one-seeded and fleshy (cherry	Prunus
9 Fruit one-seeded or pods	10

10 Fruit an aggregate of pods; stems erect	Spiraea
10 Fruit an aggregate of one-seeded fruits; stems mat-forming	Dryas

11 Leaves divided into three leaflets	12
11 Leaves pinnately compound with at least 5 leaflets	15

12 Leaflets cleft into linear segments	Chamaerhodos
12 Leaflets at most moderately incised into broad teeth or lobes	13

13 Receptacle not enlarged, fruit dry; stamens 5; petals yellow	Sibbaldiopsis
13 Receptacle greatly enlarged and red or white in fruit (strawberry or raspberry); stamens 10 – many; petals white	14

14 Receptacle red, fruit an aggregate of one-seeded fruits (strawberry)	Fragaria
14 Receptacle white, fruit an aggregate of one-seeded, fleshy fruits (raspberry)	Rubus

15 Fruits pods	Sorbaria
15 Fruits one-seeded and dry	16

16 Sepals top-shaped, with hooked bristles at summit	Agrimonia
16 Sepals cup-shaped to hemispheric, unarmed	17

17 Styles persistent and feather-like in fruit	Geum
17 Styles deciduous in fruit	18

18 Flowers reddish purple; plant creeping; aquatic or marshy environments	Comarum
18 Flowers white or yellow; stems erect; plants of drier habitats	19

19 Flowers solitary; leaves silvery white below	Argentina
19 Flowers in few to many-flowered branched; leaves not silvery-white below	Potentilla