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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE SAXIFRAGE FAMILY | |||||||||
| Saxifrages are found around the world. Plants in this family are herbs, and may be somewhat fleshy. The leaves are alternate, opposite or all basal. The leaves are often toothed or lobed. The flowers are usually in branched clusters, though occasionally they may be solitary. The flowers have both the male and female parts and have a well-developed hypanthium. The hypanthium is the fusion of part of the sepals, petals and stamens that enlarges in fruit. There are four or five sepals and petals. The fruits are capsules or clusters of pods. | |||||||||
| STARFLOWER | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Lithophragma glabrum | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Starflower grows as tall as 20 cm from slender rootstocks. The stem is covered in short and glandular hairs. The leaves are divided into threes almost all the way to the base and each division is divided again into threes. The stem leaves often have small bulbs in the axils. The flowers are in a short, unbranched, 3 – 6-flowered cluster. The flowers have five sepals and petals and are whitish or pinkish in colour. Each flower has 10 stamens. The fruit is a many-seeded capsule. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Starflower grows on moist ravine slopes. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This plant is found in southwestern Saskatchewan in the Cypress Upland ecoregion. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Starflower is threatened because of rarity in Saskatchewan. It is regionally restricted to one small region of the province. Possible threats have been identified for this species. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY STARFLOWER | |||||||||
| * Are the flowers whitish or pinkish in colour? * Are there 10 stamens? * Are the leaves divided? * Did you find it in southwestern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found starflower! | |||||||||
