This is indeed M. virginiensis. And your assessment of my thesis research is spot on. We are submitting a publication to Castanea soon, but we would like to continue studying saxifrage populations in the Southern Appalachians. We would like to visit this site this spring if possible!
How interesting! We spent hours discussing whether it’s Micranthes virginiensis or Micranthes careyana, but never considered M. caroliniana. There isn’t much information available about it. Let us work on it!
We’re pretty sure it’s not M. caroliniana. Max Lanning’s thesis shows that M. caroliniana is found only in the extreme northern counties of NC. Based on physical characteristics and phylology he has concluded that “the population in Polk County, North Carolina (“Melrose”) appears to belong to or be closely related to M. virginiensis based on morphology and ITS data,but possesses unique floral characters.”
Western Carolina Botanical Club 
Max, Send me a message at wcbotanicalclub@ gmail.com and i will get back to you
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This is indeed M. virginiensis. And your assessment of my thesis research is spot on. We are submitting a publication to Castanea soon, but we would like to continue studying saxifrage populations in the Southern Appalachians. We would like to visit this site this spring if possible!
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Thanks, Max! How nice to have our identification confirmed.
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No problem! How can we access this population this spring?
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I believe that is Micranthes caroliniana.
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How interesting! We spent hours discussing whether it’s Micranthes virginiensis or Micranthes careyana, but never considered M. caroliniana. There isn’t much information available about it. Let us work on it!
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We’re pretty sure it’s not M. caroliniana. Max Lanning’s thesis shows that M. caroliniana is found only in the extreme northern counties of NC. Based on physical characteristics and phylology he has concluded that “the population in Polk County, North Carolina (“Melrose”) appears to belong to or be closely related to M. virginiensis based on morphology and ITS data,but possesses unique floral characters.”
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