Saxifraga x bhratangensis is a naturally occuring hybrid that is found in central Nepal. Despite only being described in 2013 it has been in cultivation here at Royal Botanic Garden Edinbugh since 1983.

The collections was made by our retired Alpine supervisor, Ron McBeath, who collected it in the Marsyangdi valley near the village of Brathang on the 14th of July 1982. Distrubingly perhaps for some before I was born.

The collection MCB 1377 has caused some confusion in Saxifraga community from the variation found in the seedlings that arose from that original batch and then persisted in cultivation over the past 30+ years.

Malcolm McGregor’s 2009 monograph on the 2000 species and cultivars of Saxifraga discussed the parentatge of MCB1377, believing to be a cross between the species Saxifraga poluniniana and Saxifraga cinerea, and then in 2013 after additional work in the field the hybrid name S. x bhratangensis was published in The Saxifraga Magazine.

The original plant is in the process of being propagated to give it a new lease of life and to return it to a stone trough as part of the renovation works on the old alpine house.

Saxifraga x bhratangensis
19832344*D

Saxifraga x bhratangensis
19832344*D.