228 THE SAXIFBAGE FAMILY. 



4. Common Golden-saxifkage — [Ohrysosplenium oppositifolium.) 

 Moist ditch -banks, and by springs and runnels of water under trees 

 and in woods, common everywhere. Fl. April, May. 

 Curtis, i, 100 ; E. B. vii. 490 ; Baxter, ii. 140. 

 One of the early spring-flowers, prettily leading on the opening yeaj', unpre- 

 tending and delicate, and about as tall as its name would be, if ^mtten large and 

 set up on end. 



5. Alternate-leaved Golden-saxifbage — (Chrt/sosplemum 

 alter nifolium.) 



Moist woods, and on the edges of little streams shaded by trees, 

 frequent, though not so common as the preceding. Mere Clough, by 

 the brook, on the left hand after passing the cottage in the middle. 

 Wood by Ashley Mill. Woods in Clayton Vale and below Bowdon 

 old Church. Banks of the Mersey, opposite Northen. Dells at Mob- 

 berley. Fl. April, May ; in warm, sheltered situations, as early as 



March. 



E. B. i. 54. 



The beautiful orange-yellow Saxifraga Hirculus (Curtis, ii. 390.) formerly 

 grew in abundance on Knutsford Moor, but now appears to be extirpated. 



Many plants of this family open their flowers in our gardens. The largest and 

 most striking is the Saxifraga crassifolia. The dense panicles of lilac flowers 

 appear in March and April, scarcely raised above the level of the leaves, which 

 are oval, shining, four or five inches in length and breadth, and for saxifrages 

 enormous. Afterwards comes that universal favourite, the London-pride, or 

 Saxifraga umbrosa, rendered inestimable to town- gardeners by its indifierence to 

 smoke and dirt ; and along with it the pretty Saxifraga hypnoides, (E. B. xxxii. 

 2276.) another well-known plant, growing in large, circular, moss-like cushions, 

 ample enough for a seat, and covered with little bunches of cream-white blossoms. 

 In June comes the tongue-leaved saxifrage, or S. lingul&ta, a noble species, easily 

 recognized by its great pyramid of white flowers, the petals speckled with crimson, 

 and by its hard, gray, rough-edged, tongue-like leaves, which grow in a rosette 

 like that of the London-pride. Besides these larger kinds, the cm-ious have 

 upon rockeries and in pots a host of little alpine species, the prettiest being the 

 S. oppositifolia, (Curtis, ii. 301.) which expands its crimson flowers early in 

 March, the "rosy-fingered morning" of the garden. For a parlour there is no 

 prettier vegetable ornament than the Saxifraga sarmentosa. Suspended in a 

 basket, it sends out long, pendulous, strawberry-like stems, twenty or thirty inches 

 long, and as fine as thread, each with a little tuft of round, hair)', concave leaves 

 dangling at the extremity, and swaying with every movement of the air. The 

 flowers are like those of the London-pride, but larger and irregular. In addition 

 to the triie saxifrages, different kinds of Mitilla, the Heuchera Americana, and 

 the Parndssia axarifolia, are in cultivation. 



