THE STONE-CROP FAMILY. 



125 



6. Yellow Mountain Pansy — ( Viola liitea.) 

 Very abundant on the Buxton road, beyond Disley, frequently 

 growing on the wall-tops. Shuttlings Lowe, near Congleton, abundant. 

 (Mr. Holland.) Beyond Mottram, and near Stalybridge Brushes, 

 sparingly. (B. G.) Fl. May — September. 



E. B. xi. 721. 



In gardens, the only important Viola besides the tricolor, is a pale blue- 

 flowered species, with a remarkably long tail, called calcardta, or the " spurred." 

 Occasionally we see the Erpetion reniformis. 



XVIII.— THE STONE-CROP FAMILY. Crassuldce(B. 



Herbaceous plants, sometimes a little woody at the base. Leaves 

 simple, scattered, often lumpy, swollen, and deformed, owing to their 

 extreme succulence, whereby the skin is enormously distended. 

 Flowers simple, regular, and pentamerous, presenting in maiay a most 

 beautiful star-like figure, made more conspicuous by their vivid and 

 decided colours, which are generally some shade of yellow or red, 

 though white is not rare. Stamens normally ten ; exceptionally five, 



Fig. 104. 

 Cuticle of Sedum leaf, shewing stomates (highly magnified). 



twelve, or twenty-four. Ovaries five, except when the stamens are in 

 excess, and invariably y^-ee. Carpels erect, opening lengthwise when 

 ripe ; seeds numerous, in a double row. The intensely succulent 

 character of the foliage, the fewness of the stamens, and the freedom 

 of the ovaries, constitute an easy clue to this curious family. All 

 these circumstances are common, but it is only in the Crassuldcece 

 that they exist in combination. 



Sprinkled all over the world, the 300 known species of this family 



