Saxifragaceae - Saxifrage family

Perennial herbs, rarely annuals or biennials, sometimes succulent. Leaves often basally aggregated; simple, sometimes compound (pinnately or palmately); usually alternate; margins entire, lobed or toothed; venation pinnate or palmate. Inflorescences consisting of cymes, racemes, spikes, heads fascicles, panicles, rarely solitary flowers; scapose; bracteate. Flowers usually bisexual; actinomorphic, rarely zygomorphic; hypanthium free or fused to ovary base, often cup-shaped. Petals fused or free; sometimes absent. Ovary superior to inferior; carpels usually fused. Fruit a septicidal capsule or sometimes a group of follicles.

Worldwide: 35 genera and 660 species, subcosmopolitan, especially Northern temperate and cold regions and also in tropical montane areas.

Zimbabwe: 1 cultivated genus and 1 cultivated taxon.