GENUS 8. 



SAXIFRAGE FAMILY. 



223 



8. CHONDROSEA Haw. Saxifr. Enum. 10. 1821. 



Perennial herbs, with densely leafy short caudices and offsets and sparingly leafy 

 flower-stems, and alternate serrate leaves with each tooth white-encrusted, the flowers in 

 terminal compound cymes. Calyx-lobes 5, erect. Corolla white or sometimes colored, 

 regular, the petals broad, clawless. Stamens 10; filaments lanceolate to lanceolate-subulate. 

 Ovary about one-half inferior, the carpels united to above the middle. Follicles united up 

 to the more or less spreading tips. [Greek, referring to the texture of the leaves.] 



About 9 species, most abundant in the mountains of middle Europe. Type species : Chondrosea 

 pyramidalis Haw. 



i. Chondrosea Aizoon (Jacq.) Haw, Livelong Saxifrage. Fig. 2169. 



Saxifraga Aizoon Jacq. Fl. Austr. 5: 18. pi, 438. 1778. 

 Chondrosea Aizoon Haw. Saxifr. Enum. n 1821. 



Leaves clustered in a dense rosette at the base of the 

 bracted flowering stem ; plant spreading by offsets, so that 

 several are often joined together. Leaves 4"-i2" long, 

 spatulate, thick, obtuse and rounded at the apex, the 

 margins serrulate with sharp hard white teeth; scape 

 erect, viscid-pubescent, 4'-io' high ; flowers several or 

 numerous, corymbose, yellowish, about 3" broad ; calyx- 

 lobes ovate-oblong, obtuse, viscid, shorter than the obo- 

 vate, often spotted petals ; capsule tipped by the divergent 

 styles, its base adnate to the calyx. 



On dry rocks, Mt. Mansfield, Vermont ; Quebec to Labra- 

 dor, west to Lake Superior and Manitoba. Also in alpine and 

 arctic Europe. Summer. 



9. THEROFON Raf. New Fl. N. A. 4: 66. 1836. 



[BOYKINIA Nutt. Journ. Acad. Phila. 7: 113. 1834. Not Raf.] 

 Glandular-pubescent perennial herbs, with alternate peti- 

 oled orbicular or reniform leaves, and small white perfect 

 flowers in branching panicles. Calyx-tube top-shaped or 

 subglobose, adnate to the ovary, its limb 5-lobed. Petals 5, 

 deciduous, inserted on the calyx-tube. Filaments short. Ovary 2-celled (rarely 3-celled) ; 

 styles 2, rarely 3. Capsule 2-celled, the beaks of the carpels divergent. Seeds numerous, the 

 testa shining, minutely punctate. [Greek, beast-killing; an old name of aconite.] 



About 10 species, natives of the southern Alleghanies and the mountains of western North 



America. Type species : Boykinia aconitifolia 

 Nutt. 



i. Therofon aconitifolium (Nutt.) 

 Millsp. Aconite Saxifrage. Fig. 2170. 



Boykinia aconitifolia Nutt. Journ. Acad. Phil. 



7: 113. 1834. 



Therofon napelloides Raf. New Fl. 4 : 66. 1836. 

 Saxifraga aconitifolia Field. Sert. PI. pi. 57. 



1844. 

 Therofon aconitifolium Millsp. Bull. West Va. 



Agric. Exp. Sta. 2: 561. 1892. 



Stem rather stout, erect, i-2 high. 

 Lower and basal leaves long-petioled, reni- 

 form-orbicular, cordate or truncate at the 

 base, slightly scabrous above, glabrous or 

 with a few scale-like hairs along the veins 

 beneath, palmately 5-7-lobed, the lobes ob- 

 ovate or oval, sharply incised-serrate ; upper 

 leaves short-petioled ; bracts of the inflores- 

 cence foliaceous, incised; cymes panicled; 

 pedicels ^and calyx viscid;, flowers white, 

 about 2" broad; calyx-lobes lanceolate, 

 erect; petals oblanceolate, spatulate at base; 

 capsule adnate to the calyx-tube, only its 

 divergent beaks free. 

 In woods, mountains of southwestern Virginia to North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. July. 



10. SULLIVANTIA T. & G. Am. Journ. Sci. 42 : 22. 1842. 

 Slender perennial herbs, with mainly basal long-petioled reni form-orbicular crenate or 

 slightly lobed leaves, and small white cymose-paniculate flowers. Calyx-tube campanulate, 

 adnate to the base of the ovary, its limb 5-lobed, the lobes erect. Petals 5, spatulate, mar- 



