Brook Saxifrage Micranthes odontoloma Saxifrage family (Saxifragaceae)
Flowers of this plant are quite small and attract no attention -- until one looks at them with a hand lens. Then they get rave review. "Saxifrage" means "rock breaker," possibly an allusion to the location that the many members of this are sometimes found and possibly an allusion to the plant's supposed ability to break kidney stones in humans. "Micranthes" is Greek for "small flower." "Odon" is Greek for "tooth" and "loma" is "fringe," both probably referring to the leaf margin.
, 8-24" tall, with round, handsomely scalloped and delicate white flowers. Leaf stalks longer than leaf . Single leafless stem bears 10 or more small white flowers in a very open . Flowers comprised of 5 round petals, 5 green-purple and 10 red that are conspicuous, as long as petals, flattened, extending outward like spokes on a ship's wheel. is red and 2-celled. is purple .
stamen -- the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower;
The stamen consists of an anther supported by a filament.
A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.
A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.
basal leaves -- a leaf that grows lowest on the stem of a plant.
Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud,
and often as support for the petals when in bloom.
capsule -- a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. In
most cases the capsule splits apart to release seeds.
fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants.
It is formed from the ovary after flowering.
A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. The bottom flowers in a panicle open first.
An ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower. Above the ovary is the style and the stigma, which is where the pollen lands and germinates to grow down through the style to the ovary.
genus -- A subdivision of a botanical Family in which all members have a significant
number of similar characteristics.
blade -- Just the flat part of a leaf. Not the stem.
