Saxifraga exarata, Vili

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1964, Flora Europaea - Volume 1. Lycopodiaceae to Platanaceae, Cambridge University Press : 374

64. S. exarata Vili ., Prosp. Pl. Dauph. 47 (1779)

(inch S. adenophora C. Koch ).

Leafy shoots numerous, erect, forming a fairly dense, soft cushion. Leaves 4-15 mm, very variable in size and shape, usually with a 3- or 5-lobed, cuneate lamina tapered gradually to a broad petiole; usually rather densely covered with short glandular hairs, rarely subglabrous; segments oblong or linear, obtuse, sulcate, subparallel. Flowering stems 3-10 cm; cauline leaves few, usually undivided; flowers (1—)3—8, in a lax cyme; petals c. 4 x 2 mm, oblong-obovate, not or barely contiguous, white or pale cream, rarely reddish. Alps; Jura; Appennini; mountains o f Balkan peninsula. 2n = 20-22.?A1 Au Bu Ga Ge G r He It Ju.

Easily confused with 62, and almost as variable; hybrids between the two are not uncommon. 64 can usually be distinguished by the larger, whiter petals and the sulcate leaves, but plants occur in the Appennini and Macedonia which combine typical leaves of 64 with flowers very like those of 62. Some varieties from the W. Alps are scarcely distinguishable from 65.