2G4 FLORA HISTOKICA. 



SAXIFRAGE. Saxifraga. 



Natural Order Succulentce. Saxifragce, Juss. A 

 Genus of the Decandria Disynia Class. 



Nor will the breast, where fancy glows, 

 Deem every flower a weed that blows 

 Amid the desert plain. 



Shenstone. 



Of this numerous family of plants twenty distinct 

 species are indigenous to Great Britain, eighteen of 

 which are mountain plants, one grows in our meadow 

 pastures, and one in bogs, to which we have added 

 twenty-five exotic species, besides several varieties 

 of some of the kinds. 



We do not find that the Greeks have made any 

 mention of these plants. Their herbarizings appear 

 to have been made principally in more eastern parts 

 than these plants have been found in. 



The Roman physicians held certain species of 

 this genus in great esteem, on account of their sup- 

 posed efficacy in breaking and dissolving calculi in 

 the bladder, from which cause they called them 

 Saxifraga, a name that implies a breaker of the 

 stone, and the old English name of Breakstone was 

 bestowed on them for the same reason. But in this 



