Fam. 70. Saxifragaceae Juss. Saxifrage Family 



Perennial herbs, woody vines, shrubs or rarely small trees with opposite or 

 alternate usually exstipulate leaves; inflorescence variable; stamens mostly definite; 

 carpels commonly fewer than the sepals, either separate or partly so or all com- 

 bined into one compound pistil; floral cup either free or adherent to ovary, 

 usually persistent or withering away; stamens and petals almost always inserted 

 on rim of floral cup; ovary usually at least partly inferior; fruit a capsule or 

 berry; ovules anatropous; seeds with copious endosperm. 



Closely allied to Rosaceae and with some genera without clear relationships; 

 sometimes split into several families. Estimated to be more than 1,000 species 

 in nearly 100 genera in both hemispheres. 



1. Herbs (2) 



1. Shrubs (5) 



2(1). Plants diminutive, forming prostrate mats less than 5 cm. across 



1. Lepuropetalon 



2. Plants with erect flowering stems (3) 



3(2). Leaves scattered along the flowering stem; ovary 5- to 7-celled, mostly 

 superior; follicles circumscissally dehiscent 2. Penthorum 



3. Leaves mostly basal and rosulate; ovary 1- or 2-celled, about half-inferior; 



fruits not dehiscent as above (4) 



4(3). Fertile stamens 10; without staminodia; ovary 2-celled 3. Saxifraga 



4. Fertile stamens 5; staminodia present; ovary 1-celled 4. Parnassia 



5(1). Leaves opposite 7. Jamesia 



5. Leaves alternate (6) 



6(5). Leaves pinnately veined, unlobed, at most with serrulate margins; ovary 

 superior; fruit a capsule 5. Itea 



6. Leaves noticeably palmately veined and lobed; ovary more or less inferior; 



fruit a berry 6. Ribes 



1. Lepuropetalon Ell, 



A monotypic genus. Segregated by some authors as a monotypic family, Lepuro- 

 petalaceae. 



1. Lepuropetalon spathulatum (Muhl.) Ell. 



Annual diminutive herbs, growing in small tufts, glabrous, mostly in hemis- 

 pheric patches 1-1.5 cm. across; stems abbreviated, usually branched from the 

 base, the branches angled; leaves alternate, simple, sessile, spatulate, 2-6 mm. 

 long, obtuse, usually adorned with lines of reddish glands; entire; flowers incon- 

 spicuous but large for the plant, solitary near or at the ends of the stems and 

 branches; hypanthium flattish, at maturity longer than the calyx; calyx 1.5-2 mm. 

 wide; sepals 5, ovate, spreading 1-2 mm. long at maturity; corolla white, minute, 

 regular; petals 5, broad, scalelike, shorter than the sepals, reniform to ovate- 

 reniform; stamens 5; filaments subulate, very short; ovary partly inferior, the 

 3 or 4 short carpels united; fruit about 2 mm. long, the folliclelike carpel apices 

 erect, slightly spreading; fruit a capsule loculicidal at apex; seeds pitted. 



Sandy soil about sinks and on wet soil in the e. half of Tex., Feb.-Mar.; from 

 S.C. and Ga. to Tex. and Mex.; also Chile. 



2. Penthorum L. Ditch-stonecrop 



About 3 species, with 2 in Asia. Segregated by some authors as a monogeneric 

 family, Penthoraceae. 



999 



