The Evergreen Saxifrage 



{SAXIFRAGA AIZOIDES) 



The Saxifrages have been extraordinarily successful in the 

 Alps. Some thirty different species, some of them exceed- 

 ingly common, are met with in Switzerland. 



The Evergeen Saxifrage is one of the most abundant. It 

 grows in moist rocky places, at the foot of glaciers, and on 

 the banks of mountain streams and waterfalls. It ascends to 

 9000 feet in places and descends almost to the plains with 

 some of the rivers. The plant grows in tufts. The erect 

 flower stems are covered by the narrow, succulent leaves, 

 which have hairs along each margin ; they terminate in 

 branches bearing four to eight flowers. The star-like 

 flowers, which appear in July and August, are made up of 

 five brightly coloured petals alternating with five green 

 sepals. The petals may be lemon yellow with orange 

 red spots, or, as in the specimen here photographed (var. 

 atrorubens), pure orange red. Next comes a ring of ten 

 stamens with dark red pollen, and then the showy ring-like 

 nectary and the two styles in the centre of the flower. 

 The honey is so obvious and abundant that insects of all 

 kinds — flies, bees, butterflies, and beetles — visit the flowers ; 

 but self-fertilisation is, in the main, prevented by the pollen 

 being shed before the ovaries with their stigmata are ready 

 for fertilisation. The Evergreen Saxifrage is to be found in 



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