Micranthes odontoloma

Brook saxifrage

Family: Saxifragaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Brook saxifrage is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, California Ranges, Sierra Nevada High, and San Bernardino Mountains in wet meadows and rocky ledges at elevations above 1,500 meters. Flowering from July to August, this plant produces white flowers with distinctive two-spotted petals that are round to elliptic, measuring 3 to 4.5 millimeters long. Growing with stems 20 to 50 centimeters tall and developing a caudex with rhizomes, it has an open flowering structure. Its leaves are broadly round with heart-shaped bases, featuring coarse and sharp teeth, measuring 4 to 40 centimeters long with petioles 2 to 30 centimeters in length that have expanded, membranous bases. The fruit develops as a capsule-like structure with unique placental characteristics in its ovary lobes.

Habitat: Wet meadows, ledges

Bloom period: Jul-Aug

Elevation: > 1500 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRH, CaRH, SNH, SnBr

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Butte, El Dorado, Lassen, Madera, Mono, Shasta, Sierra, Trinity, Tehama, Tuolumne, Alpine, Fresno, Mariposa, Nevada, Plumas, Siskiyou, Tulare, Placer, Amador

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.