GENUS i. 



SAXIFRAGE FAMILY. 



215 



Placentae almost basal ; carpels very unequal. 1 1. Tiarella. 

 Placentae parietal ; carpels equal or nearly so. 

 Flowers in elongated racemes or panicles. 



Petals entire or erose. 12. Heuchera. 



Petals pinnately cleft or parted. 13. Mitella. 

 Flowers solitary and axillary to leaf-like bracts or 2-4 together and each subtended by a 



leaf-like bract. 14. Chrysosplenium. 



I. ASTILBE Hamilt. ; D. Don. Prodr. Fl. Nepal. 210. 1825. 



Erect perennial herbs, with large 2-3-ternate leaves, and small spicate polygamous flowers 

 in terminal panicles. Calyx campanulate, 4-5-lobed. Petals 4-5 (in our species), linear- 

 spatulate, inserted at the base of the calyx. Stamens 8-10, all perfect, inserted with the 

 petals; filaments elongated. Ovary superior or nearly so, 2-3-celled, deeply 2-3-lobed; styles 

 2-3; stigmas obtuse; ovules o. Capsule 2-3-lobed, separating into 2-3 follicle-like carpels, 

 each usually few-seeded. Seeds small, the testa loose, tapering at each end. [Greek, 

 without brightness.] 



About 7 species, natives of eastern North America, eastern Asia and the Himalayas. Besides 

 the following another species occurs in the southern Alleghanies. Type species : Astilbe rivu- 

 laris D. Don. 



1. Astilbe biternata (Vent.) Britton. False Goat's Beard. Astilbe. Fig. 2151. 



Tiarella biternata Vent. Jard. Malm. 



pi. 54. 1803. 

 Spiraea Aruncus var. hcrmaphrodita 



Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i : 294. 1803. 

 Astilbe decandra D. Don, Prodr. Fl. 



Nepal. 211. 1825. 

 Astilbe biternata Britton, Bull. Torr. 



Club 20: 475. 1893. 



Erect, 3-6 high, more or less 

 pubescent. Leaves petioled, 2-3- 

 ternately compound, often 2 broad ; 

 leaflets thin, stalked, ovate, cordate, 

 truncate or rounded at the base, the 

 lateral ones usually oblique, acumi- 

 nate at the apex, sharply serrate or 

 incised, 2'-5' long; panicles often i 

 long; flowers sessile or nearly so, 

 about 2" broad, yellowish white; 

 petals of the staminate flowers spatu- 

 late, those of the perfect ones much 

 smaller or none; stamens 10; follicles 



2, acute, glabrous, about \\" long. 



In woods, mountains of- x "Virginia to 

 North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. 

 Plant with the aspect of Aruncus. June. 



2. ANTIPHYLLA Haw. Saxifr. Enum. 43. 1821. 



Perennial densely matted herbs, with copiously leafy stems and sterile branches, naked 

 or sparingly leafy flower-stalks and opposite (except sometimes on the flower-stalks) often 

 4-ranked imbricated broad keeled ciliate leaves each with an almost apical pore, the flowers 

 solitary, erect. Calyx-lobes 5, strongly ciliate. Corolla mostly blue or purple, sometimes 

 white, regular, the petals much longer than the calyx, narrowed into claw-like bases. Sta- 

 mens 10 ; filaments subulate to triangular. Ovary less than one-half inferior, the carpels 

 united to above the middle. Follicles erect, except the more or less spreading tips. [Greek, 

 opposite leaved.] 



About 4 species, natives of northern regions. Type species : Saxifraga oppositifolia L 



