Western Saxifrage (Saxifraga occidentalis)

Catherine Creek, Columbia Gorge, WA, 2/2015.

Most sources set the bloom time for this common gorge variety in March, but this year we found it at Catherine Creek in mid February!  (We’ve had an uncommonly mild winter here in the northwest.) This differs from the similarly named Northwest Saxifrage (integrifolia) in, among other things, the leaves which have the saw-tooth edges common among the genus, and the stems, which are reddish.  Robert Ross mentions, in Wildflowers of the Western Cascades, that this species “is extremely variable and probably hybridizes with other Saxifraga species.”

 

Catherine Creek, Columbia Gorge, WA, 2/2015.

 

Catherine Creek, Columbia Gorge, WA, 2/2015.

 

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