Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage
Chrysosplenium oppositifolium
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A low golden-green mat on wet, shaded ground — and its flowers have no petals at all.
A creeping, mat-forming perennial of wet, shaded places, with small rounded paired leaves and flat heads of tiny golden-green flowers surrounded by yellowish leaf-like bracts. It has no petals; the colour comes from the sepals and bracts. It grows on dripping banks, flushes, burn sides and shaded seepages throughout the wetter ground around Dumfries.
Behaviour
It needs constant moisture and shade, spreading by rooting runners over wet rock, mud and moss to form extensive low mats. The open, flat flower heads are accessible to small flies and beetles rather than long-tongued bees. Its presence is a reliable sign of a permanent seepage or spring line — the plant simply cannot survive where the ground dries out.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Saxifrages (Saxifragaceae)
- Height
- 5–15 cm
- Status
- Native; common on wet, shaded ground in the west
Photo by Richtid, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons