Saxifraga rosacea

Saxifraga rosacea, Irish saxifrage, or rosy saxifrage, is a herbaceous plant in the family Saxifragaceae. The epithet rosacea does not refer to its flowers which are white,^[1] but to its radical sterile shoots which are often rosy.^[2] Owing to this misleading epithet, the rosy-flowered Saxifraga × arendsii is sometimes misidentified as Saxifraga rosacea.

Saxifraga rosacea
Saxifraga rosacea photographed at a botanical garden in Iceland in 2010.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Saxifragales
Family:	Saxifragaceae
Genus:	Saxifraga
Species:	S. rosacea
Binomial name
Saxifraga rosacea Moench

It spreads by stolons, forming a compact cushion of short leafy sterile shoots. Flowering stems may be up to 25 cm tall, bearing 4 to 5 white flowers with petals 6-10mm long.^[3][4]

It is found in Northwestern and Central Europe.^[3][5][6] It was believed to have become extinct in the UK in 1962, but cuttings from original specimens have allowed for its reintroduction in 2024.^[7] It is usually found by mountain streams, but also grows on cliffs and scree slopes.^[3]

Subspecies

• Saxifraga rosacea subsp. rosacea: southern and central Germany, eastern France, Ireland, Iceland, and Faroe Islands; extinct in Great Britain.^[6]
• Saxifraga rosacea subsp. hartii: Arranmore Island.^[6]
• Saxifraga rosacea subsp. sponhemica: Belgium, Luxembourg, eastern France, western Germany, Czechoslovakia, and southwestern Poland.^[6]
• Saxifraga rosacea subsp. steinmannii: Czech Republic.^[8]