Addisonia 43 



(Plate 214) 

 BERGENIA CRASSIFOLIA 



Thick-leaved Saxifrage 



Native of Siberia 

 Family Saxifragaceau Saxifrage Family 



Saxifraga crassifolia L. Sp. PI. 401. 1753. 



Bergenia crassifolia Fritsch, Verb. Zool.-Bot. Ges. Wien 39: 587. 1889. 



The genus Bergenia includes a few saxifrages with large, thick 

 leaves, and showy blooms appearing early in spring. Many other 

 types of saxifrages are to be found in rock gardens abroad, but they 

 are not as readily grown in this country as are the bergenias, which 

 do well in moist pockets in rocks, and are among our earliest plants 

 to bloom. The flowering scapes are enclosed in thick reddish 

 sheaths when first uncovered in spring, but the sun soon draws 

 out the clusters of buds, and as they open and the scapes lengthen 

 we have a showy mass of pink bloom. After the flowering season 

 the leaves develop and during the summer cover the ground with 

 a mat of leathery foliage. The group of plants from which out- 

 illustration was taken, has flourished many years in the rock pockets 

 of the saxifrage bed in the Herbaceous Grounds of the New York 

 Botanical Garden. 



The thick-leaved saxifrage is a perennial herb with a thick, woody, 

 brittle rootstock. The leaves are round in general outline, with 

 shallow-toothed margins, rounded apices, and heart-shaped to 

 wedge-shaped bases, and are of a leathery or fleshy texture; they 

 are borne on thick petioles furnished with membranous stipules at 

 the base. The succulent colored flower-stalk bears a cluster of 

 many pink fl.owers. The calyx is bell -shaped; the five clawed, 

 rounded, overlapping petals are inserted on the calyx; the ten 

 roundish anthers are borne on short filaments, which are also 

 inserted on the calyx. The two-parted pistil develops into a cap- 

 sule filled with cylindric seeds. 



Kenneth R. Boynton. 



Explanation op Plate. Fig. 1. — Flowering stalk. Fig. 2. — Flower, cut 

 open. Fig. 3. — Fruit. Fig. 4. — Leaf. 



