''), whose sticky leaves seem to catch small
invertebrates Saxifrages are typical inhabitants of
Arctic–alpine ecosystems, and are hardly ever found outside the
temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere; most members of this genus are found in
subarctic climates. A good number of species grow in
glacial habitats, such as
S. biflora which can be found some above sea level in the Alps, or the East Greenland saxifrage (
S. nathorstii). The genus is also abundant in the
Eastern and
Western Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows. Though the archetypal saxifrage is a small plant
huddling between rocks high up on a mountain, many species do not occur in such a
habitat and are larger (though still rather delicate) plants found on wet
meadows. Various
Saxifraga species are used as food plants by the
caterpillars of some
butterflies and moths, such as the Phoebus Apollo (
Parnassius phoebus).
Charles Darwin – erroneously believing
Saxifraga to be allied to the sundew family (
Droseraceae) – suspected the sticky-leaved round-leaved saxifrage (
S. rotundifolia), rue-leaved saxifrage (
S. tridactylites) and Pyrenean saxifrage (
S. umbrosa) to be
protocarnivorous plants, and conducted some experiments whose results supported his observations, but the matter has apparently not been studied since his time. ==Cultivation==