Saxifraga odontoloma

Saxifrage flower

Brook saxifrage is one of the most common plants found on the banks of swiftly flowing mountain brooks, and seems to need that specific environment. You might occasionally find it in boggy areas if there is a stream nearby, but never in dry areas. It is easily recognizable from the leaves which have large even teeth, like fancy edges cut into paper. The flowering stems are leafless, and have many branches with small white flowers which are very pretty to look at. The flowers have five petals, ten stamens with wide (petaloid) filaments, and a 2-parted style. The latin name, Saxifraga odontoloma, has been changed due to genetic research. Newer references will call it Micranthes odontoloma instead.

Saxifrage leaves

The leaves are edible, but even though they don't taste bad, they don't taste good either. They seem mostly tasteless to me. And the texture is rather tough, especially in older, larger leaves. They are thicker than an average leaf, so there may be more food bulk in them at least. After cooking, even for 15 minutes, they taste nearly the same as they do raw, and they are very nearly still as tough as they are raw.

So, there isn't much here to excite me to eat these often. At best, I think they could be added to a recipe to give it more food bulk, and make it more filling.