saxifrage

SAX-ih-frij

The rock-breaker — a flowering plant that grows in cracks in stone, its roots wedging into fissures and slowly splitting the rock apart. Includes starry saxifrage, yellow saxifrage, and purple saxifrage, the latter being one of the northernmost flowering plants on earth.
Etymology
Latin: saxifraga, from saxum (rock) + frangere (to break). The plant that breaks stone.
flora geology mountains
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