MEAi:)0\V SAX 11' RAGE 153 



of Parnassus at a distance, wlieii nunicnius [)lants yrow tooether in 

 association. It is a pelophilous plant. 



Common enouj^h, this has the habit of a bulbous plant with granu- 

 late tuberous roots. The stems are erect, the lower radical leaves 

 kidney-shaped, with stalked, rounded lobes, scalloped, the leaf-stalks 

 channelled. The stem -leaves are nearly stalkle.ss, divided nearly to 

 the base into 3 or 5 lobes, and the bulbs are downy and reddish. 



Panicles ot llowers of this plant ha\e a ])early silvery effect. The 

 petals are while, at ri;.4ht angles, roLinded externally, narrowed below. 

 The 10 anther-stalks bear awl-shaped yellow anthers. The seeds are 

 numerous, small, black, in inversely egg-shaped, pale-brown capsules. 

 The Meadow Sa.xifrage is i ft. high. It flowers in May. This 

 plant is a perennial, increasing by division. 



The flowers contain honey, and the anthers mature before the 

 stigmas. The general form of the flower and its chances of self- or 

 cross-pollination are precisely the same as in ,S'. ti-idactylifcs (which see). 



The short-beaked capsule opening above causes the numerous 

 seeds to be upset around the parent plant by the jerking caused by the 

 wind or by browsing animals. 



This is a clay-loving j^lant which subsists on a clay soil, or rarely a 

 sandy loam. 



It is found on many diflerent rock soils o{ Triassic and Liassic age, 

 as well as on earlier granitic or volcanic rock.s. 



The only fungi that infest it are Pucciiiia saxifrao^a- or Ctvoiua 

 saxif raster. 



The Yellow-winged Carpet feeds on it. 



The second Latin name has reference to the small granular knobs 

 of the roots or bulbs. 



It is called P^lly Button, Cuckoo-flower, Fair Maid of France, First 

 of May, Thirlestane Crass, Lady's Pincushion, Pretty Maids, Sas- 

 sifax, Saxifer, Saxifrage, White Saxifrage, Sen-green, Stonebreak. 

 Pretty Maids refers to the double garden form, which may be: 



"Mai-\-! Mary! i|uilc ( milrai-)-. 

 How docs )-oiir Ljarclcn t^n'ow? 

 Cockle .shells and siKcr bells, 

 And prett)- maids all of a row." 



The First of May refers to its time of growing. By the Doctrine of 

 Signatures it was formerly used for stone, because the plant growing on 

 rocks was thought to break them. It is cultivated and forms a jiretty 

 garden flower, especially when double. 



