423 



cut; those next the root on long footstalks; those on the stem alter- 

 nate, subsessilc. It is a native of Europe, tiowering in May. 



It varies with double flowers, in which slate it is cultivated as an 

 ornamental plant. ^ 



The third has the root superficial, black, scaly, wilh the relics ot 

 dead leaves, the thickness of a finger or thumb, round, sendhig down 

 filiform fibres from the lower surface: the stems from ihc axils of the 

 leaves of the year preceding at the lops of the roots alternate, very 

 short, almost upright, covered with the sheaths of the leaves, quite 

 simple, but branched in autumn: the leaves three or four, allernate, 

 spreading very much, ol)ovaie-ol)long, creiiulate, subrcluse, very 

 smooth, veined, a span long, flat, coriaceous: the petioles shorter 

 by half than the leaves, roundish, channelled, smooth, with a wide 

 membrane at the base, of an ovale form, embracing, and in the win- 

 ter season serving for a gem: the scape or peduncle ternnnating, 

 solitary, erect, a span high, the thickness of the little finger, rounchsh, 

 very smooth, purplish, almost naked, many-flowered: the panicle con- 

 tracted, naked, blood-red, composed of pedate racemes : the flow- 

 ers inferior, drooping, pedicelled : the [n-dicels short, round, rugged. 



Jt is observed, that " the stem changes every year into root; that 

 which flowers one year losing its leaves during the winter, turnhig 

 to the ground, becoming black, and putting ibrth fibres:'^ and after 

 the plant has flowered, the stem puts forth branches from the axils 

 of the leaves, which have the panicle of flowers for the next year 

 included in their gems. 



According to Curtis, the leaves are large, red on the under, and 

 of a fine shining green on their upper surface, and may be ranked 

 among the more handsome kinds of ibliage : the flowering stems, 

 according to the richness and moisture of the soil in which they arc 

 planted, rise from one to two or even three feet high; at top sup- 

 porting a large bunch of purple pendulous flowers, expanding in 

 April and May, and, if the season prove iavourable, making a fine 

 apjwarance. It is a native of Siberia. 



It is remarked, that " there is another Saxifrage in gardens, ex- 

 ceedingly like this in appearance, but diftering, in producing larger 



