SAXIFRAGE FAMILY 355 



7. PELTIPHYLLUM Engler in Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenf. 3 2a : 61. 



1890. 



Coarse acaulescent perennial herbs with thick fleshy horizontal rhizomes. Leaves 

 basal, orbicular-peltate, cupped at the center, terminating long fleshy broadly stipular 

 petioles. Scapes somewhat surpassing the leaves, occasionally bearing one or two very 

 much reduced broadly stipular leaves. Inflorescence composed of broad corymbose cymes. 

 Hypanthium small, flattish, shorter than the 5 sepals, these becoming reflexed. Corolla 

 white, aging pinkish, regular. Petals 5, broad, sessile. Stamens 10; filaments subulate. 

 Ovary adnate to the hypanthium only at the base; carpels free save at the base, in fruit 

 nearly distinct and more or less spreading. [Name Greek, meaning peltate leaf.] 



A monotypic genus confined to California and adjacent Oregon. 



1. Peltiphyllum peltatum (Torr.) Engler. Umbrella Plant, Indian Rhubarb. 



Fig. 2234. 



Saxifraga peltata Torr. ex Benth. PI. Hartw. 311. 1849. 

 Leptarrhena inundata Behr ex Kell. Proc. Calif. Acad. 1 : 45. 18S5. 

 Peltiphyllum peltatum Engler in Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenf. 3 2a : 61. 1890. 



Tufted plant 3-10 dm. high. Leaf-blades 1-4 dm. broad, crenately to more acutely lobed, 

 the lobes unequally and often sharply serrate-dentate, glabrous except occasionally on the 

 prominent veins beneath ; petioles evenly though not densely glandular-scabrous ; scapes ap- 

 pearing before the leaves (these appearing after anthesis), erect, sparsely to relatively densely 

 brownish-pubescent with broadish hairs ; sepals ovate to oblong-ovate, 3-4 mm. long, obtuse, 

 glandular-ciliate; petals oval-orbicular to oblong-obovate, 5-7 mm. long; carpels 8-11 mm. 

 long, becoming reddish. 



In streams and along stream banks, Upper Sonoran and Transition Zones; southwestern Oregon southward 

 in the Coast Ranges to Humboldt County and in the Sierra Nevada to Tulare County, California. Type locality: 

 "Pine Creek," Butte County, California. April-July. 



8. LEPTARRHENA R. Br. Chlor. Melv. 15. 1823. 



Perennial caulescent herbs with short leafy caudices and sparingly leafy flower-stalks. 

 Leaves alternate, approximate on the caudex, remote and very few on the flower-stalk; 

 blades leathery, toothed, narrowed into petiole-like bases. Flowers in a dense short panicle, 

 elongating in fruit to a number of dense cymes. Hypanthium flattish, about the length of 

 the calyx. Sepals 5, erect. Corolla white, regular. Petals 5, narrow, broadened upward, 

 persistent. Stamens 10, with subulate filaments. Lower fifth of the ovary (only the very 

 base in fruit) adnate to the hypanthium, the carpels coalesced only at the base, erect 

 except for the slightly divergent tips. Seeds scurfy, elongated-subulate, the testa pro- 

 longed on either end of the seed proper. [Name Greek, meaning thin or delicate and 

 male, probably in reference to the slender stamens.] 



A monotypic genus, native of northeastern Asia and coastal northwestern North America. 



1. Leptarrhena pyrolifolia (D. Don) R. Br. Leather-leaved Saxifrage. Fig. 2235. 



Saxifraga pyrolifolia D. Don, Trans. Linn. Soc. 13: 389. 1822. 



Saxifraga amplexifolia Sternb. Rev. Saxifr. Suppl. 1: 2. 1822. 



Leptarrhena pyrolifolia R. Br. ex Ser. in DC. Prod. 4: 48. 1830. 

 Leptarrhena amplexifolia R. Br. ex. Ser. in DC. loc. cit. 



Caudex horizontal or ascending, stoutish, covered by the imbricated bases of the petioles. 

 Leaf-blades leathery, oblong to obovate, serrate to crenate-serrate except toward the base, gla- 

 brous, deep green or lustrous above, paler and often brownish beneath, 3-12 cm. long, narrowed 

 into stout winged petioles, these sometimes sparingly ciliate ; flower-stalks 1-4.5 dm. tall, more 

 or less glandular-pubescent, bearing one or two small auriculate-clasping leaves ; cymules at 

 first congested into a thyrsoid panicle, becoming separated ; peduncles 5-25 mm. long, these and 

 the pedicels more or less densely glandular-pubescent ; sepals ovate, whitish, slightly longer than 

 the mostly glabrous hypanthium, each with a terminal sessile gland and often a few lateral 

 glands; petals narrowly spatulate to oblong-oblanceolate, white, sometimes slightly pink-tinged, 

 2-2.5 mm. long; carpels conic-ovoid, 8-10 mm. long, purple or merely pink-tinged. 



Along streams, Boreal Zones; Kamchatka, Aleutian Islands, and southward along the coast of Alaska and 

 British Columbia to Mount Adams, Washington. Type locality: Kamchatka and Unalaska. July. 



9. SAXIFRAGA L. Sp. PI. 398. 1753. 



Herbs, mostly perennial, with alternate, opposite or basal, entire, toothed or pinnatifid 

 leaves and corymbosely paniculate or solitary perfect flowers. Hypanthium weakly to 

 well developed, adnate to at least the base of the ovary. Sepals 5. Petals 5, perigynous. 

 Stamens 10, inserted with the petals; filaments subulate or broadened upward and some- 

 what petaloid ; anthers 2-celled. Ovary almost superior to partly inferior, 2-celled (at least 

 at the base), 2-lobed at least at the summit (3 to 5 carpels in aberrant flowers) ; capsule- 

 beaks short; stigmas truncate or capitate. Placentae axile. Capsule 2-beaked, many- 



