224 THE SAXIFEA.GE FAMILT. 



everywhere. A shrub called Lycium bdrbamm, of which there is a specimen 

 against a cottage facing the road, on the left hand a little above Rostheme 

 Church, may be added to the list; and likewise the curious egg-plant, or Solanum 

 melongena, the large, white, oval, and pendulous fruit of which exactly resembles 

 the egg of the domestic fowl. This one requires the green-house. 



LXIV.— THE SAXIFRAGE FAMILY. Saxifragdcea. 



Pretty herbaceous plants, often moss-like in aspect, and growing in 

 dense patches ; the flower-stems usually glandular, and seldom more 

 than twelve inches high. Leaves simple, ovate or roundish, usually 

 serrate or crenate, sometimes irregularly pinnatifid, destitute of stipules, 

 and in almost every case alternate. Calyx more or less adherent to 

 the ovary, usually five-lobed ; petals and stamens each five or ten, 

 and both seated on the calyx. Ovary usually of two carpels, which 

 cohere below, but diverge at the upper part ; stigmas sessile. Fruit 

 a capsule ; seeds numerous and minute. The corolla is regular in 

 almost every species, white, pink, red, or yellow, but never blue, and 

 often speckled. In the genus Ghrysosplenium the petals are absent, 

 and the calyx is usually four-cleft, with eight stamens. 



Fig. UO. 

 Flower of Parnassia. 



The Saxifragaceae belong entirely to the temperate parts of the 

 northern hemisphere, abounding upon moimtains, and " frequently 

 forming the chief beauty of that rich turf which is found near the 

 snow in high alpine stations." A few grow in moist meadows and 

 woods, and even upon walls. They are noted for their astringency, 

 and a few are bitter and tonic. 



Between three and four hundred species are kno>vn, sixteen growing 

 wild in Britain, and five of them neai* Manchester. 



