Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

Plant Identification => Plant Identification Questions and Answers => Topic started by: Martinr on November 20, 2012, 03:28:06 PM

Title: Unidentified Saxifrage
Post by: Martinr on November 20, 2012, 03:28:06 PM

Hi experts, the two photos below were taken in the Dolomites, above the Pordoi Pass, on the path to the Forc del Pordoi. All my attempts to positively identify it using my various books have failed!

Help!

Title: Re: Unidentified Saxifrage
Post by: Peter Maguire on November 20, 2012, 04:09:53 PM

? Saxifraga exerata, perhaps slightly past it's best, hence the darker flowers. Still a nice plant though.

Title: Re: Unidentified Saxifrage
Post by: adrian young on November 20, 2012, 04:17:27 PM

Hi Martin
Your Pordoi sax looks like S.facchinii,
this is endemic to that area.
It is not common in cultivation

Title: Re: Unidentified Saxifrage
Post by: Martinr on November 20, 2012, 04:54:09 PM

Thanks, I went down both those roads!

All the descriptions I have of S facchinii suggest the flowers should be on extremely short stems on or amongst the foliage. I'm also not sure it should sport such red stems.

For S exarata I would have expected more substantial petals.

No wonder I have a headache :'( :P ::)

Title: Re: Unidentified Saxifrage
Post by: Kees Jan on November 21, 2012, 05:18:45 PM

if it is not facchinii (I can't tell) I would say it it looks more like exarata ssp. moschata than exarata ssp. exarata, although I think that would be somewhat unusual on dolomitic limestone.

Title: Re: Unidentified Saxifrage
Post by: tonyg on November 21, 2012, 11:36:38 PM

Quote from: Kees Jan on November 21, 2012, 05:18:45 PM

if it is not facchinii (I can't tell) I would say it it looks more like exarata ssp. moschata than exarata ssp. exarata, although I think that would be somewhat unusual on dolomitic limestone.

I am no expert but I have seen similar in Switzerland and would call them exerata ssp moschata.  This was my first thought on seeing the photo ... before I read the above quote!

Title: Re: Unidentified Saxifrage
Post by: Martinr on November 22, 2012, 07:59:15 AM

You're not helping my headache ??? ???

Thanks all. I think I'll note it as S. exarata (?) and move on to my next puzzle :o