#micranthes

Micranthes virginiensis / Virginia Saxifrage in Duke Forest in Durham, NC

Early spring gifts from the Mon River Trail. From top: cutleaf toothwort (Cardamine concatenata); Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria); bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis); Carolina spring beauty (Claytonia caroliniana); harbinger of spring (Erigenia bulbosa); early saxifrage (Micranthes virginiensis); ramp (Allium tricoccum); yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum); and sharp-lobed hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba).

Rustyhair saxifrage, Micranthes rufidula, is a small saxifrage common on cliffs on the west coast. You can see the rusty-orange wooly hairs on the bottom of the leaves in the second photo, which is one of its distinguishing features. Micranthes used to be lumped in with the Saxifraga genus, which was very confusing for me as a botany student! While the flowers of species in the genus Micranthes look like those in Saxifraga, they are more closely related to other genera in the saxifrage family, Saxifragaceae, like Boykinia and Heuchera. 

Our visit to this rare conglomerate karst glade and gorge system was a bit on the spur of the moment, originally my friends and I were thinking about riding bikes, then we thought about getting coffee and heading to Adam’s County to go mess around that area and botanize, instead we ran into our friend Ben and found out about the spring kick off bluegrass show over at Rabit Hash and almost bailed on Botanizing all together. Luckily I remembered how close Boone County Cliff’s was and we got to see some early limestone blooming species. Not gonna lie, seeing clusters of early saxifrage going off may have been my highlight of that day regardless of also running into two pretty unique species besides that; a spring beauty known for a limestone habit, white staminodes, sharp tipped petals, and blooming early, and a rock cress that has a very interesting distribution, saw tooth leaves, and an odor that makes flies and owlet moths go crazy. 

. . . Early saxifrage (Micranthes virginiensis), a tough but gorgeous perennial herb that vaults from rocky crevices and ledges with the first rays of spring sunshine. A member of the “rock-breaker” family (Saxifragaceae), the plant’s spreading clusters of fragrant white flowers are suspended above a basal rosette of velvety, spatula-like leaves by a downy-haired stalk. Along with harbinger of spring (Erigenia bulbosa), early saxifrage is at the vanguard of spring’s resurgence in Appalachia’s forests. The plant’s young leaves are edible and were highly sought after by old timers in search of fresh spring greens. The photos above were taken on the Mon River Trail.

Early saxifrage - Micranthes virginiensis

Early saxifrage, growing in the moss on a rock wall with trout lilies.