116 BOTANICAL EXCURSION 
the convolute bases of the leaves. To the description of the 
spike, fruit, &c. we have nothing of any consequence to 
add. 
Long ere reaching the summit, we again met with the 
new Saxifraga;* which we had previously gathered on the 
mountains near Jefferson, but we now found it in great abun- 
dance, both in flower and with mature fruit. It grew in the 
utmost profusion, on the dripping face of a rocky precipice, 
near our encampment for the night, on the north-western 
side of the mountain, five or six hundred feet beneath the 
highest summit. The vegetation is here so backward, that 
the Saxifraga leucanthemifolia, growing on the brow of this 
precipice, was not yet in blossom, and the Saxifraga erosa, 
Pursh, in the wet soil at its base, was scarcely out of flower, - 
while at the foot of the mountain it had long since shed its 
seeds. We were therefore enabled to satisfy ourselves that — 
S. erosa belongs to the section Hydatica, and that the — 
S. Wolleana, (Torr. $ Gray), from a mountain near Beth- E 
` lehem in Pennsylvania, is only a variety of this species. 
Pursh gathered his plant in Virginia, * out of a run near the | 
* Saxifraga Careyana (Spec. nov.) foliis radicalibus longe petiolatis gla- 
bris (tenuibus) ovato-rotundis grosse crenato-dentatis basi truncatis vel | 
subcordatis, scapo gracili nudo apice paniculato-cymoso, floribus effusis, 
pedicellis filiformibus, petalis lanceolato-oblongis sessilibus sepala recurva — 
plus duplo superantibus, carpellis discretis turgidis demum divaricatis ca- _ 
lyce liberis.— Variat 1, scapo petiolisque glabriusculis; 2, scapo, pedicellis, 
necnon pagina foliorum pilis viscosis pubescentibus; 3, scapo foliis aut - 
bracteis foliaceis 1-2 instructo ; 4, foliis ovalibus oblongisve, nunc argute | 
dentatis, in petiolum plus minüs attenuatis, z 
Crescit in rupibus humidis opacis altissimorum montium comitatus 
Ashe, presertim ad montem Grandfather dictum, alt. 3,500—5,000 pedes. _ 
Junio floret.—Herba spithamea, rarius pedalis. Flores parvi. Petala 
consimilia, sessilia, subtriplinervia, alba, immaculata. Filamenta sabt. 
lato-filiformia, Carpella ovoidea, stylis brevibus apiculata Gtigmatibus 
subincrassatis), basi vix aut ne vix coalita, ad maturitatem per tota™ 
suturam ventralem dehiscentia, ut in pleris Saxifragis plus minus ap% 
carpeis. Semina ovalia, striis elevatis denticulatis (per lentem augentem) 
longitudinaliter notata.—Species distinctissima, habitu. ad sect. Hydati- 
cam, sed characteribus Micranthem accidens. pl 
