Lithophragma glabrum (L. bulbifera)
Bulbiferous Prairie Star

Family: Saxifragaceae (Saxifrage family)

Photo taken at Leavenworth Ski Hill, dry open slope

Flowers:

2 to 5 in a corymb at anthesis, but becoming racemose; petals mostly 5 lobed; calyx campanulate to cup shaped, 3 to 4 mm at anthesis; ovary less than half inferior, hypanthium partially fused to ovary; 3 styles; 10 stamens

Fruit:

seeds spiny

Leaves:

stem leaves bulbiferous, purple to maroon in color; basal leaves deeply 3 lobed or more or less palmately compound, lobes and leaflets lobed

Plant:

perennial; usually less than 25 cm tall; purplish upper plant

Habitat:

grassy hillsides and sagebrush desert to Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir forest

Distribution of species:

southern British Columbia to California- mostly east Cascades, east to South Dakota and Colorado

Distribution of genus:

12 species: western North America