Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Specific Families and Genera => Saxifraga => Topic started by: lavateraguy on January 14, 2021, 07:12:50 PM
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I came across this plant in a hedgerow, which baffled me at the time, but Pl@ntNet Identify points me at Saxifraga trifurcata. Having looked around the web it seems a reasonable match for that (it's not in the British Floras), but as a likely garden escape or throwout I don't know what alternatives I should be looking at. Can anyone confirm or critique the identification. TIA.
The full size image can be seen at https://www.ispotnature.org/communities/uk-and-ireland/view/observation/817722/saxifrage
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Have you been able to discount S. hypnoides (http://www.floralimages.co.uk/page.php?taxon=saxifraga_hypnoides,10) as perhaps the closest native? (distribution map here (https://bsbi.org/maps?taxonid=2cd4p9h.fpb))
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I didn't measure the leaves in situ, but I think that they're too large and with too many final lobes for Saxifraga hypnoides (3-5, rarely more). (The plant in the photograph was maybe 8 inches across.) I'm not familiar with most saxifrages, but I'd expect Saxifraga hypnoides to have a more "mossy" appearance; I thought that this was more like Saxifraga rosacea. Also I understand Saxifraga hypnoides to like lime, and this plant was on Millstone Grit.
In the field I was thinking of Ranunculaceae, on the lines of Aconitum or Nigella, assuming an unfamiliarity with young growth, though when I did come across young growth of Aconitum some years back it was Anemone that I confused it with.
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Yes perhaps, although I've seen S. hypnoides growing perfectly happily on sandstone in the Galtee Mountains (NE Cork) and with rosettes quite loose among other vegetation. It also occurs not far from your location, in contrast to S. rosacea. However, as you say, a garden-discard or escape can't be ruled out either depending on the context.
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Now flowering: