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Zahlbrucknera (Zahlbrucknera)

Description

Saxifraga is the largest genus in the family Saxifragaceae, containing about 440 species of holarctic perennial plants, known as saxifrages or rockfoils. The Latin word saxifraga means literally "stone-breaker", from Latin saxum ("rock" or "stone") + frangere ("to break"). It is usually thought to indicate a medicinal use for treatment of urinary calculi (known as kidney stones), rather than breaking rocks apart. The genera Saxifragopsis (strawberry saxifrage), and Saxifragella are sometimes included in Saxifraga. In recent DNA based phylogenetic analyses of the Saxifragaceae, the former sections Micranthes and Merkianae are shown to be more closely related to the Boykinia and Heuchera clades, and the most recent floras separate these groups as the genus Micranthes. Purple saxifrage (S. oppositifolia) is a popular floral emblem. It is the territorial flower of Nunavut (Canada) and the county flower of County Londonderry in Northern Ireland.[citation needed] Known as rødsildre ("red saxifrage") in Norway, it also is the county flower of Nordland. It is on the seal of Fitchburg State University, whose motto is "Perseverantia" in reference to the rock-breaking abilities of the plant over time. Tsukuba in Japan has as its city flower hoshizaki-yukinoshita (Katakana: ホシザキユキノシタ), the aptera form of Creeping saxifrage (S. stolonifera). The leaves of the Japanese variety "yukinoshita" (literally "Under the snow") can also been eaten, and is consumed at least within the large southern island of Kyushu. It is prepared by frying the younger succulent leaves in tempura batter. Charles Darwin – erroneously believing Saxifraga to be allied to the sundew family (Droseraceae) – suspected the sticky-leaved round-leaved saxifrage (S. rotundifolia), rue-leaved saxifrage (S. tridactylites) and Pyrenean saxifrage (S. umbrosa) to be protocarnivorous plants, and conducted some experiments whose results supported his observations, but the matter has apparently not been studied since his time.

Taxonomic tree

  • Domain: Eukarya

    • Kingdom: Plantae

      • Phylum:

        • Class:

          • Order: Saxifragales

            • Family: Saxifragaceae

              • Genus: Zahlbrucknera