Saxifrage Family – Saxifragaceae
Actual flower size: 1/4 inch across
Oval-leaf Mitrewort is also called Coastal Mitrewort or Coastal Bishop’s Cap. The former Latin name for this flower was Mitella ovalis.
Plant Description: Oval-leaf Mitrewort has 6 to 12 inch tall, hairy, leafless stems. The basal leaves are coarsly hairy, long-stalked, heart egg-shaped, with 5 to 9 shallow, toothed lobes. The leaves are up to 1.5 inches wide and 1.5 times as long. There are 20 to 60 small green flowers growing up the stem.
Flower Description: The flower is yellowish-green saucer, 1/8 inch across, with 5 triangular-shaped lobes and five, 1/6 inch long, TV-antenna-like petals with 4 to 7 linear, unpaired greenish-yellow segments. The 5 stamens alternate between the petals, lying in front of the calyx lobes.
Ecology: Oval-leafed Mitrewort grows in the lowlands on the west side of the Cascades, along streambanks and in gullies and shady forest.
Note: The genus of Oval-leaf Mitrewort has recently been changed from Mitella to Pectiantia.. See the note below the gallery on the Saxifrage Family page and the “APG Changes” page for more information.