the leaves in 8. scardica and many other Saxifrages are 
pores for the excretion of water. ‘The passage of water is 
rendered possible by the pits being lined with a tissue of 
very thin-walled cells. The water excreted contains car- 
bonate of lime, which is left behind by evaporation, and 
forms a white scale covering the pit. In dry weather the 
scale closes tightly down over the pit, and acts as a 
stopper, preventing the drying-up of the leaf, while in wet 
weather it is loosened, and readily admits of the passage of 
water underneath it. 
Deser.—A tufted plant. Leaves crowded on the vegeta- 
tive stems, rather spreading, oblong, acute or subacute, a 
quarter to half an inch long, rigid, slightly concave above, 
convex below, keeled in the dried state, ciliate up to or 
beyond the middle, upper surface with a row of five to 
fifteen pits inside the cartilaginous margin. Flowering 
stems erect or ascending, the largest three inches long, 
one- to eleven-flowered, clothed with gland-tipped hairs. 
Cauline leaves oblong, narrowed towards the base, acute or 
apiculate. Calye glandular-hairy, especially the lower 
half; lobes ovate, obtuse, or rather acute, one and a half 
lines long. Petals obovate, wedge-shaped at the base, 
four and a half lines long, irregularly five- to seven-veined, 
Filaments slightly exceeding the styles.—T. A. Spracun. 
Fig. 1, leaf; 2, calyx and pistil; 3, anther :—all enlarged. 
