Densely hairy, 3–8 inch tall flower stems grow among the rocks and scree in alpine seeps, dry boulder fields, and tundra. Each stem usually is tipped with one small white flower. Note the red bulblets crowded below the flower and along the stem. This alpine plant, tolerant to wet, dry, wind, and extreme temperatures, seldom sets seeds but reproduces from the bulblets and by root sprouts. The stems nod in bud and fruit.

FLOWER: July. Flowers 1, occasionally 2–5, on stem tip; 5 oval, white petals without spots, 3/16–7/16 inch long (5–12 mm); tiny red bulblets grow below terminal flower and in leaf axils; 10 stamens with yellow anthers. Stem covered with long, glandular hairs.

LEAVES: Basal; alternate and smaller up the stem. Basal blades long-stemmed, rounded to kidney-shaped, 3/8–1 inch wide (10–25 mm), with 3–7 rounded teeth. Stem leaves progressively smaller, oval; margins few-lobed to entire.

HABITAT: Rocky scree and outcrops, ridgelines, slopes, seeps, melting snowbanks; alpine (above timberline).

ELEVATION: 11,000–14,000 feet.

RANGE: CO, ID, MN, MT, NH, NM, NV, SD, UT, WA, WY; arctic-alpine circumboreal.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The tiny red bulblets along the stem and the alpine habitat distinguish this species. Spotted Saxifrage, S. bronchialis, has white petals with distinct red and yellow dots.

NM COUNTIES: Northern NM mountains in alpine habitats: Colfax, Mora, Rio Arriba, Santa Fe, Taos.