Small-flowered Prairie Star (Lithophragma parviflora)

Grassy Knoll Trailhead, Columbia Gorge, WA 5/2013.

Lithophragma means “stone breaker” in Greek, similar to its Latin family name Saxifraga  which means “rock splitter”.  The reference comes not from this flower’s propensity to grow in rocky areas, as we first thought, but rather from its medicinal use in breaking up kidney stones.  The roots of these attractive flowers have been known to cause livestock poisoning.