Saxifraga hyperborea
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{speciesbox
|name = Pygmy saxifrage
|image = Saxifraga hyperborea upernavik 2007-08-01 2.jpg
|image_caption = Saxifraga hyperborea
|genus = Saxifraga
|species = hyperborea
|authority = R. Br.
|synonyms = *Saxifraga cernua var. debilis (Engelm. ex A. Gray) Engl.
- Saxifraga debilis Engelm.
- Saxifraga flexuosa Sternb.
- Saxifraga hyperborea subsp. debilis (Engelm.) Á.Löve, D.Löve & B.M.Kapoor
- Saxifraga rivularis var. debilis (Engelm.) Dorn
- Saxifraga rivularis subsp. hyperborea (R. Br.) Dorn
- Saxifraga rivularis var. flexuosa (Sternb.) Engl. & Irmsch.
- Saxifraga rivularis var. hyperborea (R. Br.) Hook.
- Saxifraga rivularis var. purpurascens Lange
|synonyms_ref = [http://www.tropicos.org/Name/29100081?tab=references Tropicos][http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-2583923 The Plant List]
}}
Saxifraga hyperborea, the pygmy saxifrage, is a plant species native to Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Russia, Spitsbergen, and from mountainous areas in the western United States. One report from Mount Washington in New Hampshire is unverified. The plant grows in wet tundra, snow banks, stream banks and lake sides at elevations up to 3000 m. The US populations have been called S. debilis or S. rivularis in various publications.[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250092022 Flora of North America v 8 p 144.]
Saxifraga hyperborea is a small mat-forming herb sometimes appearing purple, with a woody caudex. Flowers are purple or white, up to 5 mm across.Brown, Robert. 1823. Chloris Melvilliana 16.Dorn, Robert D. 1988. Vascular Plants of Wyoming 300.[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/413660#page/257/mode/1up Hooker, William Jackson. 1832. Flora Boreali-Americana 1(5): 246.]Böcher, T. W. 1978. Greenlands Flora 326 pp.Moss, E. H. 1983. Flora of Alberta (ed. 2) i–xii, 1–687. University of Toronto Press, Toronto.