60 DR. HOOKER AND DR. THOMSON'S PRJECURSOEES 



Bergenia group ; ramulosa and imhricata ; granulata^ cernua, and 

 odontophylla, with possibly Sibiriea ; stenopJiylla and flagellaris ; 

 hrachypoda and Jlmbriata; palpehrata and cor diger a ; saginoides and 

 Hirculus'j corymhosa, diversifoliaf and latiflora\ Jacquemontiana 

 and Stella-aurea ; between some of which we find intermediate 

 specimens do occur, and between others such may be found in 

 future. 



On the other hand, it would probably meet the views of those 

 who take the extreme opposite view, to extend the species founded 

 on our materials to 47, by dividing ligulata and Stracheyi each 

 into two ; the same with ramulosa, i^nbricata, flagellaris, corymlosa. 

 Sir cuius, and diver sifolia. Of all these, we think the varieties of 

 Stracheyi and corymhosa best entitled to reconsideration. 



Prom this it appears that nearly half the forms we have examined 

 are extremely variable ; but the difficulty does not end here, for 

 of the 26 most distinct forms, upwards of half have been gathered 

 in one province alone, most of them by one individual, and in one 

 or a few spots only ; and no one can predicate the direction or 

 limits within which they will prove variable when all their forms 

 shall have been studied. 



We have not attempted to give detailed descriptions of the 

 species, and our diagnoses are little better than indications of 

 the most prominent differential and other characters which the 

 forms present. Whatever views may be taken of the limits be- 

 tween the species, as here proposed, there can be none about the 

 certainty, that other specimens of them from different quarters of 

 the Himalaya will greatly influence their diagnoses and render 

 detailed descriptions of them worthless. What we have endea- 

 voured to do, is to give a correct systematized review of the 

 genus as it is developed in India, in every case indicating the 

 forms which those who attach a different value from ourselves to 

 the word ' species,' may combine or keep separate. 



Gen. I. Saxieeaga, L. 



§ I. Bergenia. Bhizoma crassum. Folia ampla; petiolo basi 

 dilatato. Calyx 5-lobus, lobis obtusis erectis. Betala alba v. 

 rosea v. purpurea. 



1. Saxifraga ligulata. Wall, (in As. Tra«5. xiii. 398). Foliis orbi- 

 culatis obovatisve basi cordatis integerrimis ciliatis, panicula gla- 

 berrima. 



a. Foliis amplis utrinque glabratis, petiolis late orbiculatis. S. ligulata, 

 Hook. Bot. Mag. 3406 ; Exot. Flora, i. t. 49. 



