Saxifraga cuneifolia, common name Lesser London Pride or Shield-leaved Saxifrage or Spoon-leaved Saxifrage, is a herbaceous

Herbaceous

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

 perennial plant belonging to the Saxifragaceae

Saxifragaceae

Saxifragaceae is a plant family with about 460 known species in 36 genera. In Europe there are 12 genera.The flowers are hermaphroditic and actinomorphic...

 family.

Etymology

Saxifraga cuneifolia was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 1759 10th edition

10th edition of Systema Naturae

The 10th edition of Systema Naturae was a book written by Carl Linnaeus and published in two volumes in 1758 and 1759, which marks the starting point of zoological nomenclature...

 of Systema Naturae

Systema Naturae

The book was one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carolus Linnaeus. The first edition was published in 1735...

. The Latin word "Saxifraga" means literally "stone-breaker", from Latin "saxum" meaning "stone" + "frangere" meaning "to break". It is usually explained by reference to certain saxifrages' ability to settle in the cracks of rocks. The species' Latin epithet cuneifolia means “wedge-shaped leaves”.

Description

Saxifraga cuneifolia reaches on average 10–25 cm (3.9–9.8 ) in height. The stem is woody and creeping. The leaves are alternate and arranged in a basal rosette. They are fleshy and slightly leathery, wedge-shaped, obovate or roundish and notched on the margins. The flowers are gathered in a loose and irregularly branched inflorescence, with 5-15 flowers. The five petals are white, 2.5 to 4 mm long. The flowering period extends from May through July. Pollination is by insects. The fruit is a capsule.

Distribution

Lesser London Pride is a native of the mountains of central and southern Europe, from northwestern Spain over the Pyrenees, the Cevennes, the Alps and the Apennines, up to the eastern and southern Carpathians and the north of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Habitat

This plant grows in woods (mainly beech or chestnut), on shaded rocks and boulders. It occurs mainly in humid areas with humus rich soil, at an altitude of 400–1600 m (1,312.3–5,249.3 ) above sea level.

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