154 SAXIFRAGACE^. (SAXIFUAGE FAMILY.) 



5. ASTILBE, Hamilton. 



Flowers polygamo-dicecious. Calyx campanulate, 5-partod, nearly free from 

 the ovary. Petals .5, spatulatc, withering-persistent. Stamens 10, exserted. 

 Styles 2. Capsule 2-eclled, few-seeded. Seed-coat loose and thin. — Perennial 

 herbs, with ternately compound leaves, and small yellowish-white flowers, in 

 panicled racemes. 



1. A. decandra, Don. — Banks of streams among the mountains of 

 Georgia and North Carolina. June -August. — Stem 3° -5° high. Leaves 

 twice or thrice ternately compound ; the leaflets mostly cordate-ovate, sharply 

 lobed and toothed. Stigmas of the sterile flowers and the stamens and petals of 

 the fertile ones smaller or rudimentary. 



6. TIARELLA, L. False Mitre-wort. 



Calyx campanulate, nearly free from the ovary, .5-parted. Petals 5, entire. 

 Stamens 10. Styles 2. Capsule membranaceous, 2-valved, the valves very un- 

 equal, 1-celled, few-seeded. Seeds globular, smooth. — Perennial herbs, with 

 scape-like stems, chiefly radical and petiolcd leaves, and small racemose flowers. 



1. T. COrdifolia, L. Leaves round-cordate, crcnately or acutely lobed 

 and toothed, hairy above, pubescent beneath, on long hairy petioles ; scape (6'- 

 12' high) naked, or bearing 1-2 alternate leaves above the middle; racemes 

 simple or branched, many-flowered ; petals oblong, white or purplish. — Eockj- 

 woods and banks, Mississippi, and northward along the mountains. April 

 and May. 



7. MITELLA, Tourn. Mitre-wort. 



Calyx coherent with the base of the ovary, .5-clcft. Petals 5, pinnatifid. Sta- 

 mens 10. Styles 2. Capsule 2-beaked, I celled, 2-valved at the apex, many- 

 seeded. Seeds smooth, borne on two parietal placentae. — Perennial herbs, with 

 broadly cordate and lobed leaves, and small flowers in a terminal raceme. 



1 . M. diphylla, L. Hairy ; radical leaves cordate, acute, coarsely ser- 

 rate and slightly 3-lobed, on long petioles ; stem-leaves 2, opposite, sessile ; 

 raceme slender, loosely many-flowered. — Shady woods, on the mountains of 

 North Carolina, and northward. May. — Stem 6' - 12' high. Flowers white. 



8. CHRYSOSPLENIUM, Toum. Golden S.vxifrage. 



Calyx-tube coherent with the ovary, 4 - .5-lobed ; the lobes obtuse and yellow 

 within. Petals none. Stamens 8-10, very short, inserted on a conspicuous 

 disk. Styles 2. Capsule very short, 2-lobed, 1 -celled, with 2 parietal placcntse, 

 2-valvcd at the apex, many-seeded. — Smooth and succulent herbs, with round- 

 ish leaves, and axillary flowers. 



1. C. Americanum, Schweinitz. Stcmsprostrate, forking; leaves mostly 

 opposite, roundish, slightly lobed ; flowers solitary, greenish. — Cold and shady 



