132 DECAND. DIGYN. 



Hab. Rocks in the western Highlar,ds, G. Don. (3. Scotch Alps, 

 G. and D. Don. y. Banks of a rivulet not far from Airly Castle, 

 Angus-shire, G. Don. S. Highest mountains of Angus-shire, G. 

 Don. Fl. June, July, l/i . 



Varieties without end might be produced of tliis plant, which, as I 

 have already intimated, I can find to differ in no essential point from 

 tlje last species, if it be not in the always 3- or 5 -fid leaves, and 

 perhaps the somewhat greater lengtli of tlieir segments. Nothing 

 is more variable than the pubescence on the stems and leaves, and 

 the extent of the sterile shoots. The Jfowers, too, upon each stem 

 vary in number, and the petals somewhat in shape. The leaves 

 are, in all, more or less acute in the lower ones, and generally tipped 

 with a short bristle in the upper ones, as in .S. Jvipnoides. In none 

 of these marks, therefore, can I see any thing to found specific cha- 

 racters upon, as Smith and Don have done. I am not even satis- 

 fied tht*t the S. pahnnta of E. B. is distinct. It is certainly the de- 

 cipiens of Ehrhr. and Sternberg ; and an imparti'cd- examination of 

 the beautiful figiu-e l)y (he last mentioned author {Sax. t. 23.), 

 with the ec[ually good one of his .S. Stcrnbergii (our hirta), t. 24, 

 will, I thiilli, satisfy any one that thcij also are but slight varieties of 

 the same phuit. Tb.e former is the more hairy of the tvvo^. 



13. S. pedatifida {pedatifid Saxifrage), lower leaves and those 

 of the rather short sterile shoots upon very long foot-stalks, 

 divided into 3 decj) linear lanceolate acute spreading segments, 

 the lateral ones bifid, the superior leaves of the much branched 

 flowering stem linear undivided. E. B. t. 2278. D. Don, 

 MSS. ined. S. qjiinquefida, Haw. in Misc. Nat. and Bonn 

 Hort. Cant. 



Hab. Rocks near the head of Clova, G. Don. It is stated also to be 

 found in the Highlands by Mr. J. Mackaij, but witliout any parti- 

 cular station being given in E. B. Fl. May, June. 1/ . 



A very distinct species from any British one, nor does it appear to be 

 noticed in Sternberg's fine work, though coming near to his S. la- 



' Since the above remarks were written upon thij most intricate fa- 

 rftily of the Saxifrages, it was with much satisfaction that I saw,, in the ar- 

 ticle Saxifraga in Rces'a Cyclvpccdia, that Sir James Smith has, with that 

 degree of candour which so often accompanies his writings, acknowledged 

 that he considers S. liirta to be only a var. of the Linnsean Ccrspifosa. A 

 comparison with Linnn^us's description, and especially with the admirable 

 description and figures of Gunner in his Fl. A^orvegica, will, I think, make 

 it clearly appear that they are the very same. The figure of 6'. casp. inE.B. is 

 however a dwarf and densely leaved var. the same as D. Don's coiidemata, 

 only more pubescent, and precisely the S. grccnlandica of Linn, and Gunn. 

 Norv. t. 7-/. 1. : under which varietij, as Smith has himself considered the 

 groenlandicam the Ct/clop. to be, he sliould have quoted the E. B. ccEspitosa. 



I must do Sir James Smith the further justice to state, that in the same 

 work, he doubts if his pahnata {E. B. ?. 455.), the decipiem oi Ehrhr., be 

 truly distinct from cce.^p'itosa. His S. platypetnla he says is distinct from its 

 allies, unless it be a variety of hypnoides. ()i S. elongella he tells us that the 

 greatest peculiarity is in its solitary 1 -flowered peduncle. But some of my 

 specimens from the discoverer himself, Mr. Don, have 2 and even 3 flowers 

 upoa the same stalk. 



