Saxifrage Family – Saxifragaceae

Foamflower is also called False Mitrewort, Coolwort, or Sugar Scoop.

Plant Description: Foamflower has a flowering stem that is up to 20 inches tall, hairy, with basal leaves, a single stem leaf, and a panicle of a few to many tiny, nodding white flowers. The basal leaves are up to 5 inches across, toothed, hairy, long-stemmed and divided into 3 short-stemmed leaflets.

Flower Description: The flowers are 1/2 inch across. They have 5 hairy, petal-like sepals which flare out, 5 very narrow, almost thread-like petals, and 10 protruding stamens.

Ecology: Foamflower grows in moist forests at all low to high elevations and often is the dominate ground cover along forest trails. It blooms over a long season, sometimes blooming until frost.

Note: There are two other forms of Foamflower, based on leaf form. They are listed as subspecies, or sometimes as a separate species. In one, each leaf has 3 to 5 shallow lobes rather then leaflets. In the other, each leaf is divided into 3 leaflets, and each of these leaflets is deeply cut into several lobes.