374 SAXIFRAGACEAE 



radical leaves and lateral leafy racemose flowering branches. Stipules membranous. 

 Racemes elongated, bracteate, 20-60-flowered. Hypanthium cylindric-funnelform, free 

 from the ovary, 9-veined, slightly gibbous at the base, split along the lower side to almost 

 the very base and unequally 4-cleft at the apex into 5 sepals, the three central ones longer 

 and broader than the two lateral ones. Petals 4, rarely 5, filiform, entire, inserted in the 

 sinuses between the sepals, persistent. Stamens 3, rarely 2, scarcely exserted, inserted on 

 the hypanthium opposite the three larger sepals; filaments unequal; anthers reniform. 

 Ovary bicarpellary, 1-celled, attenuate and slightly stipitate at the base, with two long 

 equal beaks at the apex; stigmas obtuse; placentae 2, parietal, many-seeded. Seeds 

 minute, subglobose, muricate-hispid. [Dedicated to Dr. W. F. Tolmie, an early collector 

 and surgeon of the Hudson Bay Company at Fort Vancouver.] 



A monotypic genus confined to the Pacific Coast of northwestern North America. 



1. Tolmiea Menziesii (Pursh) Torr. & Gray. Youth-on-Age, Thousand 



Mothers. Fig. 2279. 



Tiarella Menziesii Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. 313. 1814. 

 Heuchera Menziesii Hook. Fl. Bor. Amer. 1 : 237. 1832. 

 Leptaxis Menziesii Raf. Fl. Tell. 2: 76. 1836. 

 Tolmiea Menziesii Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 582. 1840. 



Stems clustered, arising from a scaly, creeping and infrequently branched caudex without 

 any apparent main stem. Petioles of the basal leaves 0.5-2 dm. long, hirsute; blades cordate, 

 acute, obscurely lobed and repandly cuspidate-toothed, hirsute and ciliate, 2-12 cm. wide ; leaves 

 of the flowering branches similar but smaller and with successively shorter petioles; flowers 

 slender-pedicelled, 3-8 mm. long, subtended by small, lanceolate, scarious, and fimbriate bracts; 

 hypanthium oblique, greenish, veined, and more or less tinged with dark red-purple ; the 3 upper 

 sepals ovate-oblong with spreading obtuse tips 3 mm. long, the 2 lateral ones shorter, narrow 

 and acuminate ; petals capillary, brown, exserted from the sinuses between the sepals, about twice 

 as long as the latter ; stamens slightly exserted ; ovary oblong, the 2 valves spreading in age, the 

 fruit protruding through the slit on the lower side of the persistent hypanthium. 



Along mountain streams and in cool woods, Humid Transition and Canadian Zones; west of the Cascade 

 Mountains from southern Alaska to Oregon and southward in the Coast Ranges of California to Mendocino 

 County. Type locality: "North- West coast of America," Menzies. May-June. Propagates itself vegetatively 

 by means of adventitious buds formed in the sinuses of the leaf-blades. 



14. BENSONIA Abrams & Bacigalupi, Contr. Dudley Herb. 1 : 95. 1929. 



Perennial with slender branching scaly rootstocks, simple scapiform flowering 

 branches and basal petiolate cordate leaves. Hypanthium shallowly campanulate, slightly 

 irregular, free from the ovary except at the very base, caducous in fruit. Sepals 5, irregu- 

 larly placed, three approximate, the other two more distant, all 3-nerved. Petals 5, filiform, 

 entire. Stamens 5, opposite the sepals; filaments elongated. Pistil 2- (occasionally 3-) 

 valved at the apex ; carpels slightly compressed and sharply angled on the back, narrowed 

 to the slender styles ; placentae parietal in fruit seemingly basal ; ovules many. [Named 

 for the late Gilbert T. Benson, librarian and assistant curator of the Dudley Herbarium 

 and promising student of the Pacific Coast flora.] 



A monotypic genus restricted to the Siskiyou Mountain region of southwestern Oregon. 



1. Bensonia oregona Abrams & Bacigalupi. Bensonia. Fig. 2280. 



Bensonia oregona Abrams & Bacigalupi, Contr. Dudley Herb. 1 : 95. 1929. 



Scales of the rootstock more or less ciliate. Leaves all basal ; petioles slender, 3-7 cm. long, 

 sparsely villous with elongated brownish hairs; leaf -blades cordate, 2.5-4.5 cm. long and about 

 as broad, crenately 7-lobed, the lobes crenately toothed and each tooth short-cuspidate, the upper 

 surface glabrous or with a few scattered short appressed hairs, the lower with a few hairs on 

 the veins; flowering stalk 2 dm. high, slender, sparsely pilose; raceme rather densely 15-20- 

 flowered ; pedicels very short, scarcely 1 mm. long, with a minute linear-subulate bractlet adnate 

 to the base ; hypanthium open-campanulate to almost saucer-shaped, like the sepals creamy-white, 

 2 mm. broad; sepals 2 mm. long, covered with short-stalked glands, the nerves simple; petals 

 narrowly linear in general outline, about equaling the filaments, slightly broader at the middle 

 and narrowed toward each end ; stamens 3 mm. long, the anthers conspicuously salmon-colored ; 

 styles nearly as long as the stamens. 



Damp soil, Canadian Zone; altitudes of 4,000-4,500 feet in the Siskiyou Mountains of Curry and Josephine 

 Counties, Oregon. Type locality: Snow Camp, Curry County, Oregon. June-July. 



15. TELLIMA R. Br. in Frankl. 1st Jour. Bot. App. 765. 1823. 



Coarse hirsute perennials with numerous basal leaves and axillary leafy flowering 

 shoots arising from a thick scaly rootstock. Stipules small, with scarious and fimbriate 

 edges. Flowers in elongated simple racemes. Hypanthium large, urn-shaped or inflated- 

 campanulate, tapering somewhat at the base, adnate-to the ovary for one-third to one-half 



