Perennial herbs, sometimes succulent or shrubby. Leaves alternate, often in a basal rosette, simple, pinnate or palmate; stipules mostly absent. Flowers mostly bisexual and regular, solitary or in clusters. Sepals 3-10 but mostly 5. Petals usually the same number as, and alternate with, sepals. Stamens in 2 whorls, with 1 whorl sometimes absent or of sterile stamens. Ovary of 2-4 (rarely to 7) united carpels, occasionally free, containing several to many ovules with marginal, axile or parietal placentation. Fruit dry and dehiscent.
A mostly cool-climate family with relatively few genera represented in Australia.
The woody families Hydrangeaceae, Philadelphaceae, Grossulariaceae and members of the Cunoniaceae are also sometimes included within the Saxifragaceae but are treated here as separate families.
About 37 genera and 475 species; widespread but most abundant in cooler areas of the northern hemisphere.
Mostly perennial herbs with succulent stems; ovary mostly of 2-4 united carpels; fruit dry.
Source: (2002). Saxifragaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.