STONECROP TRIBE 27 



has more slender leaves, paler flowers, and is of glaucous hue, is termed hy 

 some botanists S. glaucum or »S'. albescens. It is described as growing on some 

 dry hills near Mildenhall, Suff'olk, and at Babbicombe in Devon ; and this 

 is considered to be the indigenous form, that most commonly seen with 

 brighter flowers being a garden escape. The leaves of the former are 

 described as not spreading, whereas in the general state of the Crooked 

 Stonecrop they spread, and turn backwards. The flowering stems of this 

 species are more slender and tough than those of any of the preceding kinds ; 

 they are from six to ten inches long. In July and August, thick clusters 

 of its bright yellow flowers are to be seen clothing many an old wall and 

 sunny bank with golden beauty. Dr. George Johnston, remarking on its 

 tenacity of life, says of this plant : "I pressed strongly, between dry papers, 

 a specimen without radicles, and the flowers of which were not in the least 

 expanded. The papers were changed every three or four days ; but at the 

 end of as many weeks, so far was life from being extinct, that it had pro- 

 truded many white root-fibres from one to two inches long, and the flowers 

 had fully expanded themselves." 



10. St. Vincent's Rock Stonecrop {S. rupestre). — Leaves slightly 

 flattened, spurred at the base, and 5 in a whorl, those of the barren branches 

 overlapping each other ; flowers in corymbs. Plant perennial. This species 

 opens its flowers during June and July, not only on the St. Vincent's and 

 Cheddar rocks, but also on walls about Darlington, and in some places in 

 Wales and Ireland. It is very nearly allied to the last, diff'ering chiefly in 

 its more flattened leaves, and smaller size. 



11. Welsh Rock Stonecrop (»S'. forsieridnum). — Leaves flattened, 

 spurred at the base, those of the barren branches spreading in many rows. 

 Plant perennial. This species flowers in June and July, on wet rocks in 

 Wales and the adjoining English counties. The short, erect, densely leafy, 

 barren stems, forming little rose-like tufts, are its chief characteristics ; but 

 some botanists doubt if it is essentially distinct from the preceding, of which 

 they regard it as a sub-species. 



Order XXXVI. GROSSULARIE^— GOOSEBERRY AND 

 CURRANT TRIBE. 



Calyx grooving from the summit of the ovary, 4 or 5 cleft ; petals 4 — 5, 

 small, inserted at the mouth of the calyx-tube, and alternating with the 

 stamens ; ovary 1 -celled, with the young seeds arranged in two opposite 

 rows ; styles 2 ; berry crowned with the withered calyx, pulpy, containing 

 stalked seeds among the pulp. This order consists of shrubs with or Avith- 

 out thorns, and with simple lobed alternate leaves plaited while in bud. The 

 woody stems and branches are round, or irregularly angled. The species 

 grow only in the temperate parts of the world. 



Currant and Gooseberry (Eibes). — Calyx 5-cleft; petals 5, inserted 

 at the mouth of the calyx-tube ; stamens 5 ; berry many-seeded, crowned by 

 the withered calyx. Names given in ancient times by the Arabians to a 

 species of rhubarb. 



4—2 



