BURNET-SAXIFRAGE
Pimpinella saxifraga
Carrot Family [Apiaceae] 
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Carrot Family [Apiaceae]
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| 8th Aug 2015, sand-dunes, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| An upright but daintier umbellifer growing to 70cm. Each branch with a pinnate leaf immediately beneath. |
| 8th Aug 2015, sand-dunes, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| Branches may themselves have branches. The pinnate leaf immediately beneath emerges from a long and only slightly-inflated sheath. |
| 4th July 2015, sand-dunes, Leasowe Lighthouse, Wirral. | Photo: © RWD |
| The slightly-inflated sheaths may turn reddish purple with lengthways striations. |
| 8th Aug 2015, sand-dunes, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| Both umbels and umbellules totally lack any bracts or bracteoles immediately beneath them. |
| 8th Aug 2015, sand-dunes, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| An umbellule, no bracteoles beneath. |
| 4th July 2015, sand-dunes, Leasowe Lighthouse, Wirral. | Photo: © RWD |
| Umbels are compound with 10-22 smooth rays which are 2-3cm long (1-4.5 cm long max range). Umbel about 20-50mm across. |
| 8th Aug 2015, sand-dunes, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| Flowers white without pink tendency. |
| 8th Aug 2015, sand-dunes, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| Two white styles poke slightly above the canopy of the flowerhead. |
| 8th Aug 2015, sand-dunes, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| Flowers mostly actinomorphic; only the outermost may be slightly zygomorhoc (hence the designation hemi-zygomorphic) |
| 8th Aug 2015, sand-dunes, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| Styles straight and shorter than the petals when in flower, elongating later in fruit before often dropping off as the fruit ripens. Three now-brown stamens can be seen on one flower. Most umbels on Burnet-saxifrage have hermaphroditic flowers (M + F on the same flower). |
| 8th Aug 2015, sand-dunes, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| Styles splay out at a characteristic angle reminiscent of miniature set-top-box TV aerials from the 60's. Note the characteristic white (at the moment) cap (stylopodium) not present on all umbellifer atop the (green at the moment) double-barrelled fruit also characteristic of umbellifers. Like many umbellifers the flowers lack sepals. Petals hairy beneath (not shown). |
| 8th Aug 2015, sand-dunes, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| An umbel turning to fruit. |
| 8th Aug 2015, sand-dunes, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| An umbellule of fruits. White cap now bright pink. Styles now like tiny burnt candle-wicks. |
| 8th Aug 2015, sand-dunes, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| The double-barrelled fruit cases still green, but will turn brown and develop more prominent ridges. The fruits are about 2-2.5mm long and will fatten up into a laterally-compressed ovoid. The fruit are on hairless stalks (pedicels) about 5mm long. |
| 4th July 2015, sand-dunes, Leasowe Lighthouse, Wirral. | Photo: © RWD |
| The stems nearer the bottom are slightly ribbed and very shortly hairy. Leaves very variable. The lowest and upper leaves are 1-pinnate, with the central leaves often being 2-pinnate. |
| 9th Aug 2014, sand-dunes, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| Here leaf 1-pinnate and with narrow but widely-separated leaflets. |
| 9th Aug 2014, sand-dunes, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| This too is a lower leaf, on a very long stalk. It is 1-pinnate and sharply toothed looking more like those of Fodder Burnet from the Rose Family, hence the moniker Burnet-saxifrage. The stalks have a slightly u-shaped cross-section as viewed from the top. |
| 9th Aug 2014, sand-dunes, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| Leaves here shortly hairy, as is the rachis and stalk. |
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Some similarities to : Greater Burnet-Saxifrage (Pimpinella major) but that is taller at up to 1.2m, is rather stout with prominently-ridged stems which are hollow (even when old - those of Burnet-saxifrage are only hollow when young) and with 1-pinnate leaves which are very rarely 2-pinnate. Slight resemblance to : Upright Hedge-Parsley (Torilis japonica) which is similar in proportions and size, but often has pinkish flowers, but the leaves are very different. Uniquely identifiable characteristics Distinguishing Feature : See photo captions.
No relation to : Grows mainly on chalk and limestone in grassy places, and thus also likes old sand dunes where grains of crushed sea-shells (made of calcium carbonate) neutralise the rather acidic silicon dioxide sand grains, making it slightly alkaline.
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 Pimpinella
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saxifraga
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⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ |
Apiaceae
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 Pimpinella (Burnet-Saxifrages) |
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Carrot Family [Apiaceae]
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BSBI maps