Saxifrage Family – Saxifragaceae
Actual flower size: 1/8 inch across
Plant Description: Small-flowered Alumroot is a 12 to 18 inch-tall perennial. It has 1 to several, reddish, hairy, stiff, branching flowering stems with many, sometimes 100s of tiny flowers in a large, open spray growing from a clump of basal leaves. The leaves are up to 3 inches across, long-stemmed, with 5 to 7 sharp to rounded lobes, toothed with a heart-shaped base and hairy undersides.
Flower Description: The flowers are less than 1/4 inch long. The 5 sepals are hairy, joined to form a narrow, green or red cup. The 5 narrow, ribbon-like petals are 2 to 3 times as long as the lobes. There are 5 protruding stamens.
Ecology: Small-flowered Alumroot grows along stream banks, in rock crevices, and on mossy talus slopes, from low to subalpine elevations.
Note: Some of these photos may be of Smooth Alumroot (Heuchera glabra). The two have hybridized in my yard. Although the leaves and seeds are different, the flowers of the two species are very similar and they grow in some of the same places.