606 SAXIFRAGA. L^LASS X. ORDER II. 



mountains, where it enjoys the pure elastic air, untainted with smoke 

 or grime. 



Sect. 5. MicRANTHES, Tausch. Hort. Canal, fas. 1. De Cand. 

 Prod. p. 4. p. 38. Stem leafless. Leaves radical, ohlony. Calyx 

 half superior, Stigmas nearly sessile. Floivers in terminal 

 headSf or close panicles. 



8. S. niva'lis, Linn. (Fig. 687.) Clustered Alpine Saxifrage. Leaves 

 all radical, obovale, spatulale, tapering into a footstalk, unequally 

 dentato-crenated, the margins hairy, sub-coriaceous ; scape leafless, 

 terminated by a dense head, or sub-corymbose cluster of flowers; 

 calyx half superior, nearly erect ; petals oblong, obtuse, as long as the 

 calyx. 



English Botany, t. 440. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 265. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 196. — Leiogyne nivalis, Don. — Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 68. 



Root of numerous branched fibres, from a black fleshy notted stock. 

 Leaves all radical, of a somewhat leathery texture, obovate spatulale, 

 or rotundate spalulate, tapering into a broad flat footstalk, very short, 

 or sometimes an inch long, numerously veined, the margins regularly 

 crenato-dentated, or with irregular roundish oblong teeth, of a dark 

 green and smooth above, paler or more generally of a purplish brown 

 beneath, smooth, or mostly downy on the margins and footstalks, and 

 sometimes scattered over with pubescence. Scape erect, from three to 

 four inches high, pubescent, especially above, with soft spreading 

 glandular hairs, round, and mostly simple; but we have specimens 

 from Ben Lawers branched from the middle, and Mr. W. Wilson has 

 observed the same in plants grown upon Snow don. Inflorescence a 

 terminal cluster of crowded flowers in a roundish head, or disposed in 

 a loose sub -corymbose manner. Flowers few, on short hairy peduncles, 

 with small lanceolate hairy bracteas. Calyx half superior, the limb of 

 five ovate nearly erect segments, never reflexed, smooth, or slightly 

 hairy. Corolla of five ovate petals, branched with veins, scarcely 

 longer than the calyx, white, green at the points and base. Stamens 

 with erect linear filaments and small anthers, of two cells. Styles 

 short, with small hemispherical stigmas. Capsules rather large, ovate, 

 of two cells, sub-membranous, and veiny, beaks of the persistent styles 

 strongly divaricating. 



Habitat.— Rocky places on the mountains in Wales ; more frequent 

 on those of Scotland, especially the Breadalbane range. 



Perennial ; flowering in July and August. 



Sect. 6. Nephrophyllum, Gaud. Helv. 3. p. 103. Koch. Flora 

 German et Helvetica, p. 276. Stem erect, leafy. Leaves lobed, 

 alternate. Bractea in pairs at the base of the peduncles. Calyx 

 half superior, erect, or spreading. 



9. »S'. granula'ta, Linn. (Fig. 688.) White Meadow Saxifrage. 

 Stem solitary, erect, above sub -corymbose ; radical leaves on long 



