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Northern Ontario Plant Database
Plant DescriptionMitella nuda L.En: naked mitrewort
Saxifragaceae (Saxifrage Family) Click on thumbnail to see larger image.
General: A perennial, scapose forb, to 20 cm tall, growing from a creeping rhizome; scape thin (filiform). The specific epithet, nuda, meaning naked, refering to the leafless flowering stem (scape). Leaves: Basal, long-petioled, blade orbicular to reniform, to 5 cm wide, palmately veined, with bristle-like hairs on the leaf surface; leaf base cordate, apex rounded, margins deeply crenate,. Flowers: Bisexual, small, greenish yellow, arranged in an erect raceme, 2–12.5 cm tall; sepals 5, ovate, to 2 mm long; petals 5, to 4 mm long, deeply divided into several pinnate filiform segments; stamens 10; ovary superior, with 2 carpels but only 1 locule, styles 2, short. Flowering period May to June. Fruit: Short, cup-like capsule, to 3 mm long, opening flat; the minute seeds shiny, black, attached at the 2 placental regions of the ovary, near the edge of the dehisced capsule. Habitat and Range: Moist rich woods, swamps, stream banks. Native to boreal North America and Asia; common througout northern Ontario. Internet Images: The Mitella nuda page from Connecticut Botanical Society. – written by Derek Goertz Back to species list |
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