

ORPINE FAMILY. 137 



11. ASTILBE. (Name means not shining.) Also called HOTE!A, after a 



Japanese botanist. Fl. summer. ^ 



A. decandra. Rich woods alon<j the Alleghanics from Virginia S. : a tall, 

 rather pubescent herb, 3 - 5 hi<;h, imitating Spiraea Aruncu.s (p. 121) in ap- 

 pearance, but coarser ; leaflets of the decompound leaves mostly heart-shaped, 

 cut toothed (2' -4' long) ; flowers greenish-white, with inconspicuous petals. 



A. Japonica, or HOTKIA JAPONICA. Cult, from Japan for ornament: 

 only 1 -2 high, with leaflets of the thrice-ternatc leaves lance-ovate or oblong, 

 and crowded white flowers of considerable beauty. 



12. TIARELLA, FALSE MITREWORT. (Diminutive of tiara, a tur- 

 ban ; name not very appropriate.) ^ 



T. COrdif61ia, our only species, in rocky woods, especially N. : a low and 

 hairy herb, spreading by summer leafy runners ; leaves rounded heart-shaped, 

 sharply lobed and toothed ; flowers in a short raceme on a leafless scape, bright 

 white, in spring. 



13. MITELLA, MITREWORT, BISHOP'S-CAP. (Name means a lit- 

 tle mitre, from the shape of the 2-cleft ovary and young pod.) Delicate plants 

 of moist woods, especially N., spreading by summer leafy runners or root- 

 stocks : fl. late spring and early summer. ^ 



M. diphylla, COMMON- or TWO-LEAVED M. Hairy, with rounded heart- 

 shaped and somewhat 3 - 5-lobed root-leaves on slender petioles, and a pair of 

 opposite nearly sessile leaves on the scape below the slender raceme of many 

 white flowers. 



M. nilda, NAKED-STALKED M. Mossy woods N. : a delicate little plant, 

 with roundish kidney-shaped doubly crenate leaves, and leafless scape (4' 6' 

 high) bearing a few greenish blossoms. 



14. CHRYSOSPLENIITM, GOLDEN SAXIFRAGE. (Name in 



Greek means yoidcn splem.) Fl. spring. 11 



C. Americanum, our only species, in springs or shady wet places N. : 

 a low and delicate smooth herb, with spreading rej^atedly forked stems, tender 

 succulent small leaves, which are roundish, obscurely crenatc-Iobed, and mainly 

 opposite ; the inconspicuous greenish flowers nearly sessile in the forks. 



41. CRASSULACE^E, ORPINE FAMILY. 



Succulent plants, differing from the Saxifrage Family mainly in 

 the complete symmetry of the flowers, the sepals, petals, stamens, 

 and pistils equal in number, or the stamens of just double the num- 

 ber ; the pistils all separate and forming as many (mostly many- 

 seeded) little pods, except in Penthorum, where they are united 

 together. (Lessons, p. 86, fig. 1G8-171.) Penthorum, which is 

 not succulent, is just intermediate between this family and the fore- 

 going. Several are monopetalous. i. e. have their petals united 

 below into a cup or tube. 



1. Leaves not at all feshy, but thin and membranaceous : the 5 ovaries united into 

 one 5-hoiiitd 5-celled pod: no scales behind the ovaries. 



1. PENTHORUM. Sepals 5. Petals 5, small, or usually none. Stamens 10. 



Pod opening by the falling away of the 5 beaks, many-seeded. Rarely the 

 parts are in sixes or sevens. 



2. Leaves thickened and succulent : ovaries separate, a minute scale behind each. 

 * Petals separate : sepals nearly so or united at the base. 



2. SEMPKRVI VUM. Sepals, narrow petals, and pistils 6-12 or even more, and 



stamens twice as many. Plants usually multiplying by leafv offsets, ou 

 which the leaves are crowded in close tufts like rosettes. 

 S&F 17 



