Why “saxifrage” is a great word
SAXIFRAGE — [Noun] Any of numerous plants of the genus *Saxifraga*, typically low-growing and bearing sprays of small, starry flowers, which flourish in rocky or alpine habitats. From Old French saxifrage, from Late Latin saxifraga (herba), from Latin saxifragus, from saxum ("rock, stone") + frangere ("to break"). Unlike "houseleek," a fleshy, domestic succulent, or "rockfoil," a merely descriptive folk name, saxifrage is the formal, encompassing term for a botanical pioneer. It is a pale bloom trembling in a granite seam, a cascade of crimson bells spilling down a cliff, and a patient, rooty cushion weathering the alpine wind—a quiet testament to life's fragile, relentless accretion, fulfilling its etymological promise by stone and time.