Saxifraga paradoxa | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Saxifragales |
Family: | Saxifragaceae |
Genus: | Saxifraga |
Species: | S. paradoxa |
Binomial name | |
Saxifraga paradoxa | |
Synonyms [1] | |
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Saxifraga paradoxa, commonly known as the fragile saxifrage, [2] is a perennial plant species in the family Saxifragaceae, [3] which occurs as a tertiary relict and endemic Saxifraga species [4] in the South-Eastern Alps. [5] Count Kaspar Maria von Sternberg described this species in his work Revisio Saxifragarum iconibus of 1810. [3]
This perennial species is a deciduous to semi-deciduous low-growing plant that can reach up to 20 cm (8 in) in height and can spread around for approximately 30 cm (12 in) [2] with its ascending to decumbent stems. [6] Its shining and small leaves are mid- to bright green, in shape usually reniform (kidney-like) and slightly lobed. [2] [6] Saxifraga paradoxa characteristic are also small pale green coloured flowers that have linearly-shaped petals, red anthers and are arranged into an axillary cyme. [2] [7] The plant's flowering period is between May and August. [8]
This Saxifraga species native range are South-Eastern Alps, with most of its populations inhabiting Slovenia and Austria. [3] In Austria Saxifraga paradoxa occurs in Carinthia and Styria, [7] while in Slovenia its growing area includes valleys of rivers Hudinja [9] and Lobnica (tributary of Drava) [10] near Pohorje, as well as Kozjak mountains and Košenjak. [7] Its habitat usually consists of damp and shaded rocky screes with non-calcareous basis, mostly containing granite and gneiss. [6] [11] After this species Slovakian botanist Ladislav Mucina named plant community Saxifragetum paradoxae, with Saxifraga paradoxa being its characteristic species. [4]
Saxifraga paradoxa has not yet been evaluated for the IUCN Red List. [12]
So-called European purple saxifrages (members of Saxifraga's section Porphyrion and subsection Oppositifoliae) are a big group of numerous taxa with uncertain taxonomic position, widely distributed in mountain ranges of central and southern Europe. Researchers studied their evolutionary relationship with a use of amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprinting and Saxifraga paradoxa was shown not to be genetically divergent taxon. [13] Recent research treats Saxifraga paradoxa as a member of Saxifraga's section Saxifraga and subsection Arachnoideae. [14] [15]