Sitka romanzoffia (Sitka mistmaiden)
Hydrophyllaceae (Waterleaf family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Photograph
© John Harvey (Photo ID #15352)
Species Information
General:
Perennial herb from a short stem base and a bulbous base; stems several, ascending, glabrous, 10-30 cm tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves numerous, the blades round to kidney-shaped, 1-4 cm wide, palmately veined, shallowly lobed or coarsely toothed, stalks 1-6 cm long with expanded, overlapped thickened bases, these woolly-hairy on the margins; stem leaves similar, few, reduced, near the base of the stem.
Flowers:
Inflorescence of several stalked flowers in a loose, elongate, terminal cluster; corollas white, usually with yellow centres, 6-11 mm long and wide; calyces shorter than the clefts of the corollas, the lobes linear-lanceolate, glabrous or minutely glandular.
Fruits:
Capsules, 2-chambered; seeds numerous.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Ecology
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
504 | 30 | 2030 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
29 | 0 | 85 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
57 | 8 | 315 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
4 | 3 | 6 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
D | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
18 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
CWH | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
CWH(10), MH(4) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Moist to wet cliffs and talus slopes from the upper montane to alpine zones; frequent on Vancouver Island, less frequent on the Queen Charlotte Islands, Cascade Mountains and SE BC; N to SE AK, E to AB and S to ID, MT and N CA.Status Information
Taxonomic Keys
1. Plants bearing well-developed, brown-woolly tubers at the base; rare in the lowland zone...................................R. tracyi
1. Plant without tubers, but the leaf stalks strongly dilated and overlapping to form a bulbous base; infrequent to frequent in the upper montane to alpine zones..................................R. sitchensis Source: Illustrated Flora of British Columbia |