Minnesota Plant Life. 



283 



Saxifrages. The saxifrage family includes in Minnesota the 

 gooseberries and currants, of which there are nine species ; the 

 saxifrages, with four species, one of which, the swamp saxifrage, 

 is found in peat-bogs and tamarack swamps throughout the 

 state; a single species of Sitllivantia; two species of alum-root; 

 two miterworts ; one false miterwort ; and one golden saxifrage. 

 The swamp saxifrage has large, rather whitish green, long 

 ovate leaves and a central hollow^ stem, somewhat thick at the 

 base, upon which cymes of flowers are arranged in an open pan- 

 icle. Another saxifrage found on dry rocks along the north shore 



of Lake Superior, has 

 rather succulent leaves, 

 forming a thick rosette at 

 the base of the flowering 

 stem. This plant propa- 

 gates by little offsets like 

 the hen-and-chickens. 



Alum-roots. The al- 

 um-roots, common on dry 

 hills or rocks, have leaves 

 shaped somewhat like 

 those of the gooseberry 

 and erect panicles of flow- 

 ers at the end of a slender 

 axis. The flowers are 

 whitish-green or purplish 

 and inconspicuous. There 

 are five stamens. The 

 ovary is one chambered, 

 with numerous seed-rudiments and ripens into a two-valved pod 

 which splits from the end, curving the tips away from each 

 other. The two varieties in Minnesota are distinguished by 

 the appearance of the flowers. In the American alum-root the 

 calyx of the flower is bell-shaped and regular. In the rough 

 alum-root the calyx is bell-shaped and very oblique with un- 

 equal lobes. Both plants are sometimes found in dry woods 

 but are more abundant as rock plants on high ledges or as 

 crevice plants on barren islands. The miterworts and golden 

 saxifrages are delicate little herbs w'ith leaves shaped some- 



FiG. 1.38. Marsh Parna?sia. After Brilton and Brown. 



