Saxifraga marginata, Sternb.

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 : 378

96. S. marginata Sternb. , Revis. Saxifr. Suppl. 1, 1 (1822).

Densely caespitose, with rosette-like or columnar leafy shoots. Leaves 3-12 x 1-5 mm, very variable, linear-oblong to obovatespathulate, more or less obtuse, glandular-ciliate towards the base, with a distinct hyaline border throughout, plane or recurved distally. Flowering stems 3-9 cm, leafy, pubescent, bearing a compact corymbose cyme of 2-8 flowers. Petals 7-14 mm, obovate, white or pale pink. Mountain rocks; calcicole. • Balkan peninsula, S. Carpathians, C. & S. Italy. Al Bu G r It Ju Rm. The contrast between the extreme varieties of this species ( var. rocheliana (Sternb.) Engler & Irmscher , with flat rosettes of leaves c. 10 x 2-5 mm, and var. coriophylla (Griseb.) Engler , with columnar shoots of imbricate, recurved leaves c. 4 x 1 mm) has led many authors to treat them as species or subspecies, but they are connected to each other and to the type by a full range of intermediates and are not clearly separated geographically. Extreme examples of var. coriophylla can scarcely be distinguished from 99.