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Astilhe.] Lii. SAxiFRAGACE^. (C. B. Clarke.) 389 



TRpE III. Escallonieae. Trees and shrubs. Stamens equalling the 

 petals m numher. Ovary inferior or half- superior. 



leaves alternate. Seeds numerous 12. Itka. 



Leaves opposite. Seeds solitary 13. Polyosma. 



^: Tribe IV. Ribesieee. Shrubs. Zeare^ alternate, simple. Ora?-y inferior, 

 1-celled. Seeds immersed in pulp. 



Flowers racemose or suhsolitary 14. Ribes. 



]. ASTZZiBEi ZT^m. 



Erect herbs with a perennial creeping rootstock. Leaves alternate, twice or 

 thnce temate; leaflets doubly serrate with prominent veins; stipiiles large, 

 aaiiafe to the petiole, sheathing. Floxcers (sometimes polygamous) small, in a 

 terminal panicle, spicate-racemose. Calyx slightly adnate to base of ovary with 

 (rarely 4) imbricate lobes. Petals 5 or (rarely 4) perigynous. Stamens 10 

 or (rarely 8) perigynous. Carpels 2, united below, naiTowed upwards into a 

 «nort style; stigmas small capitate ; ovules numerous axile. Hipe carpels Arj, 

 acummate or acute at the top, divaricating, dehiscing ventrally. Seeds small, 

 narrow, oblong, tailed at both ends.— Distrib. Species 3 or 7 ; from the llima- 

 ^ja, Java, Mantchuria, Japan and Virginia. 



- A. A> rlvularls, Ham. in Don Prodr. 211 ; flowers green-yellow, petals 

 ^, stamens 5 opposite the sepals, ripe carpels deflexed. DC. Prodr. iv. 61. Spi- 

 raea barbata, Wall Cat. 706 ; Camb. in Jacq. Voy. Bot t. 58. 



_ Temperate Himalaya, from Kashmir to Bhotan, alt. 5000-9000 ft., abundant, 

 ;K.HAsiA Mrs., alt. 4000-6000 ft., very common. 



' Stem and leaves with long fulvous hairs, especially about base of the petioles, 

 /^e/s l-4r in., ovate, acuminate, often cordate at the base, generally scabrous on the 

 ■*ye8 on both surfaces. Rachis of panicle woolly -pubescent, and brown-villose ; 

 F^dicels short with a small bract at the base. Sepals green, subglabrous, oblong, ob- 

 .^se, erect, ^ in. Young carpels but slightly united. Ripe carpels ^ in. long. Seeds 

 ^^^^^ous.—Spircea triternaia, Wall. Cat. 708 is reduced to Astilbe rivularis by H.f, 4' 

 ^}n Journ. Linn. Soc. ii. 74, but every Wallichian specimen is referable to 

 ^Jr«a Aruncus, L. which in fruit requires to be carefully distinguished from Astilbe 

 J the carpels, suddenly narrowed at top into short divergent beaks, usually 3-4 in 

 number, with few larger and much less tailed seeds. Astilbe speciosa Junghuhn {Miq. 

 ^Jor. hd^ 2^^^ ■_ p^^ J 2^2) diifers from A. rivularis by the flowers often 4-fid, the 

 semens 8 or 10, the ripe carpels broader at the base. 



2. A. rubra, H.f. 8f T. in Hot. Mag. t 4959 ; petals 5 pale pink linear 

 oriinear-spathulate twice or thrice the sepals in length, stamens 10, the 5 oppo- 

 ^^ the petals shorter, ripe carpels suberect. 



Khasia Mts., alt. 4000-6000 ft., Griffith, &c. 



^ «^«ws and /fair^ with long fulvous hairs, especially about base of the petioles. 



"^Ws 1-3 in., ovate, acute, sometimes cordate at the base, generally scabrous on the 

 • ^\T^^/^ both surfaces. Rachis of panicle woolly-pubescent and brown- villoso ; 

 ^^^icel short with a small bract at the base. Sepals i in., green, subglabrous, oblong, 

 ^ i in 1 ^^^^^' Young carpels united for a great portion of their length. Ripe carpels 

 ■ j^ ' r^^'~A. faponica, Morr, 4- Deem \ A. Thunbergii, Maxim.] and A. chinensis, 





EXCLUDED SPECIES. 



'^'^^^^^^h Kurz in Seem. Journ. Bot. v. 240 with simple leaves, from the North 



est Hi 



malaya 



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