SAXIFRAGE FAMILY 375 



its length. Sepals 5, ovate, erect, valvate in bud. Petals 5, alternating- with the sepals, 

 sessile. Stamens 10, on very short filaments, entirely included; anthers ovate, 2-celled. 

 Ovary 1 -celled with 2 parietal, many-seeded placentae, narrowly 2-beaked at the apex; 

 stigmas large, capitate. Capsule opening longitudinally between the beaks. Seeds oblong, 

 tuberculate. [Name appears to be an anagram of Mitella, from which genus this plant 

 was segregated by Brown.] 



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



1. Tellima grandiflora (Pursh) Dougl. Fringe Cups. Fig. 2281. 



Mitella grandiflora Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. 314. 1814. 

 Tellima grandiflora Dougl. Bot. Reg. 14: pi. 1178. 1828. 

 Tiarella alternifolia Fisch. ex Ser. in DC. Prod. 4 : 50. 1830. 

 Tellima odorata Howell, Fl. N.W. Amer. 199. 1898. 

 Tellima breviflora Rydb. N. Amer. Fl. 22: 90. 1905. 



Main stem none ; flowering branches stout, 3-8 dm. high, hirsute with long, brownish hairs, 

 glandular above, leafy. Petioles of the basal leaves 0.5-2 dm. long, hirsute; blades reniform or 

 cordate, sparingly hirsute, prominently reticulate-veined, shallowly 3-7-lobed, dentate with 

 broadly ovate teeth, 4-10 cm. broad; leaves of the flowering branches similar in shape, though 

 successively smaller, with small brownish stipules and petioles 2-20 mm. long ; flowers short- 

 pedicelled, slightly drooping, subtended by minute bracts ; hypanthium glandular-puberulent, 

 striate, broadly campanulate and somewhat turbinate at the base, occasionally turbinate-cam- 

 panulate, 8-10 mm. long and 4-7 mm. wide ; sepals 2-3 mm. long ; petals lanceolate-acuminate in 

 outline, deeply laciniate-pinnatifid, the segments filiform, greenish white becoming maroon, 

 sessile by a broadly to narrowly cuneate base, 4-6 mm. long, spreading ; pedicels in fruit con- 

 siderably thickened ; capsule ovate, open at the top, the indurated styles divergent ; fruit at 

 length erect. 



In rock crevices and moist woods, Humid and Arid Transition Zones; southern Alaska southward through 

 western Washington and Oregon to Placer County in the Sierra Nevada and along the coast to the Santa Lucia 

 Mountains, California. Type locality: "North-West coast of America," Menzies. April-June. 



16. MITELLASTRA Howell, Fl. N.W. Amer. 201. 1898. 



Slender glandular-pubescent perennial herbs with long-petioled basal leaves and lateral 

 leafy flowering shoots arising from a scaly rootstock. Inflorescence a racemiform cyme. 

 Hypanthium saucer-shaped, adnate only to the lower third of the ovary. Sepals 5, tri- 

 angular-ovate, valvate in aestivation. Petals 5, pectinately pinnatifid with filiform divi- 

 sions, inserted just below the sinuses of the hypanthium, deciduous. Stamens 5, opposite 

 the sepals ; filaments slender, about two-thirds as long as the sepals. Ovary about two- 

 thirds superior with two parietal many-ovuled placentae. Styles 2, distinct, slender, 

 tapering into the stigmas, which are entire. Capsule 2-valved at the summit. Seeds black 

 and shining. [Name from the Latin, Mitella, the diminutive of mitra, a mitre, referring 

 to the shape of the young capsule, and aster, a star, doubtless suggested by the outline of 

 the hypanthium.] 



A monotypic genus, native of the northwestern coast of North America. 



1. Mitellastra caulescens (Nutt.) Howell. Star-shaped Mitrewort. Fig. 2282. 



Mitella caulescens Nutt. in Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1 : 586. 1840. 

 Mitellastra caulescens Howell, Fl. N.W. Amer. 201. 1898. 



Perennial with short creeping or ascending rootstocks producing slender leafy runners. 

 Flowering branches 1-3-leaved, glandular-puberulent and somewhat hirsute toward the base, 

 1.5-4 dm. high; basal leaves broadly cordate or round-reniform, 3-7-lobed with triangular- 

 ovate lobes and crenate with mucronate teeth, hirsute and minutely scabrous on both sides, 3-7 

 cm. broad; their petioles 5-12 cm. long, hirsute with whitish reflexed hairs; stem leaves similar 

 but successively smaller, shorter-petioled, alternate and bearing a pair of green stipules ; flowers 

 yellow-green, together with the sepals 5-7 mm. wide ; petals purplish at the base ; stamens with 

 subulate filaments, purple except at the very top, connivent over the recurved, elongated, simple 

 styles ; capsule globose, the upper part free from the hypanthium. 



Along streams and in damp woods, Humid and Arid Transition Zones; British Columbia eastward to west- 

 ern Montana and south in the coastal region to Humboldt County, California. Type locality: near the mouth of 

 the Willamette River, Oregon. May-June. 



17. PECTIANTIA Raf. Fl. Tell. 2:72. 1836. 



Low perennials with scaly rootstocks and lateral, scapiform flowering branches. In- 

 florescence racemose. Hypanthium saucer-shaped, almost entirely adnate to the depressed 

 ovary. Sepals 5, inserted on the very short free portion of the hypanthium, pectinately 

 pinnatifid with filiform divisions, at length deciduous. Stamens 5, inserted on the margin 

 of a distinct disk which covers the ovary; filaments very short, inflexed ; anthers 2-celled, 

 reniform. Ovary 1-celled, flattened, mostly inferior, with 2 parietal, though apparently 

 almost basal placentae. Stigmas 2, subsessile, 2-lobed at the apex. Seeds numerous, 



