SAXIFRAGE FAMILY 



17 



sub-sessile ; fniit a capsule. (Named, from its beauty, after 

 Mount Parnassus, the home of the Muses.) 



I. P. palihtris (Common Grass of Parnassus). — An exqui- 

 sitely beautiful plant ; leaves ovate-cordate, long stalked ; flowers 

 I in. across, ivory-white^ beautifully veined, on peduncles 

 8 — TO in. high ; staminodes^ fan-shaped scales, fringed with 

 9—13 white hairs terminating in yellow wax-like glands. — Bogs, 

 principally in the north. — Fl. August, September. Perennial. 



4. RiBES (Currant and Gooseberry). — Shrubs, sometimes 

 spinous ; leaves scattered, lobed, plaited ; flowers solitary or in 



RIBES NIGRUM {Black Currant). 



bracteate racemes ; sepals 4 or 5, superior ; pefais and sta7?iens 

 equal to the sepals in number; ovary inferior, i -chambered ; 

 styles 2 \ fruit a berry ; seeds with a pulpy testa. (Name Arabic, 

 applied originally to the Rhubarb.) 



I ^ R. Grossiildria (Gooseberry), well distinguished by its spines 

 below the leaf-buds, either single or 2 — 3 together ; leaves 

 plaited, 3 — 5 lobed, crenate ; flozvers i — 3 together, greenish, 

 drooping ; sepals marcescent ; petals minute, white ; fruit 

 glandular-hairy or glabrous. — Hedges and woods, an escape. 

 The variety Uva-aispa, with smooth berries, may be wild. — Fl. 

 April, ]\Iay. Perennial. 



2. R. alpinum (Tasteless Mountain Currant). — Without spines 

 and almost glabrous ; with dioecious yellowish flowers in erect 

 racemes, very long lanceolate bracts^ and scarlet, insipid berries. 



