Family Saxifragaceae
Description: Herbs, usually perennial, sometimes annual or biennial, often rhizomatous or stoloniferous.
Leaves in basal rosettes, alternate or rarely (e.g. on inflorescence axis) opposite, simple or sometimes pinnately or palmately compound or decompound, with lamina margin entire to lobed, crenate or toothed.
Inflorescences cymose to racemose, sometimes flowers solitary. Flowers usually actinomorphic, hermaphroditic or sometimes unisexual, perigynous or epigynous, hypanthium free from or adnate to base of ovary, calyx usually 5-lobed (sometimes 3–10 lobes), petals usually 5 (sometimes 4 or 6, or absent), stamens usually 5 or 10, ovary with usually 2 carpels.
Fruit a dry capsule or follicle with numerous small seeds.
Distribution and occurrence: occurs mostly in north temperate and Arctic regions (including Eurasia and North America), also south temperate regions (some tropical mountains, including South America and New Guinea); c. 33 genera, 600 species; Australia: 1 hybrid known from cultivation possibly, but doubtfully, naturalised in N.S.W.
External links:
Angiosperm Phylogeny Website (Family: Saxifragaceae, Order: Saxifragales)
Wikipedia Various taxa occur in cultivation, often as groundcovers, container, border and rockery plants, including Astilbe, Astilboides, Bergenia, Francoa, Heuchera and Saxifraga. For taxon possibly naturalised in New South Wales see description for Bergenia xschmidtii.
Text by (compiled by) P.G. Kodela, May 2017, based on D.E. Soltis, Saxifragaceae, in K. Kubitzki (ed.), The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants Vol. 9: 418–435 (2007), and P.F. Stevens (2001 onwards), Angiosperm Phylogeny Website Version 12, July 2012 (accessed May 2017).
Taxon concept: Australian Plant Census (accessed May 2017)
| One genus in NSW: Bergenia |
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