NAT. ORDER. 



Saxifragea. 



SAXIFRAGA LIGULATA. FRINGED SAXIFRAGR 



Class X. Decandria. Order II. Digynia. 



Gen. Char. Calyx, five, parted. Petals, five, on short claws. Sta- 

 mens, ten. Capsules, adnate to tiie calyx. Seeds, numerous. 



Spe. Char. Leaves, obovate, subcordate. Floicers, pale-red, almost 

 white. 



This plant has a thick woody root, bearing several large spread- 

 ing, bright-green, broadly ovate leaves, beautifully ciliated at the 

 margin, and frequently waved there also; i\\e petiole is short, thick, 

 bearing a long, erect, ciliated sheath or ligule (whence the specific 

 name) just above where it is set on the stem ; scales five or six inches 

 long, with one or two hractcas, and terminated by a cymose panicle 

 of large, handsome, white flowers, frequently tinged with rose-color; 

 calyx obtuse and red at the base, and greener upwards, and five-cleft; 

 corolla ot five, ohov ate j>cta Is-, with short claws; stamens ten; fda- 

 ments erect, alternately shorter, rose-colored ; anthers reddish pur- 

 ple ; germen free ; styles long, erect ; stigmas obtuse. 



ScLvi/raga jKtroia. Rock Saxifraga. This plant grows almost 

 flat upon the ground, only rising from three to six inches in height; 

 the leave.? are radical and palmately five-lobed ; cauline ones tripar- 

 tite and cut ; peduncles are very long, one-flowered ; calycine seg- 

 ments linear, acute ; petals obovate, truncate at the apex and emar- 

 ginate, twice the length of the calyx ; the plant is diffusely braiiclied, 

 and furnished with glanduliferious hairs; stems erect, branched at 

 the base ; branches elongated fastigiate ; radical leaves on long peti- 



Vol. iv.— 188. 



