208 



flowers are pale red, others purple-coloured, or dull violet-red. 

 White flowers also occur. 



Scent. From Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla it is reported 

 that the flowers have a strong scent (Holm, Ekstam); Nathorst 

 even writes "almost sickening" in cases where the flowers 

 occurred abundantly. I have not noted down any observation 

 regarding the scent in Greenland. 



Honey is often secreted abundantly by the base of the 

 ovary. The flower is so widely expanded, that in rain or 

 melting snow it may be filled with water. The flower is usu- 

 ally protogynous at first, but very soon becomes homo- 

 gamous (Greenland, Scandinavia, Spitzbergen, Hortus Hafniensis, 

 the Alps) ; I have found the styles bending outwards and the 

 stigmas highly papillose, while the stamens were still short 

 and had not opened one of their anthers. According to Lindman 

 the stigmas ripen even before the flowers have fully expanded. 

 At first the styles are longer than the stamens, but gradually 

 the anthers of the latter attain the level of the stigmas and 

 gather so closely around them that self-pollination takes place 

 (Fig. 25 J5, C, D). 



The usual staminal movements of the Saxifraga occur 

 here, but not with the usual vigour; Andersson and Hesselman 

 even report that the stamens do not perform any movements 

 at all (Spitzbergen), but remain sub-erect or even somewhat 

 bent inwards. Lindman distinguishes between a form with larger 

 flowers (see his Fig. 21 A^ B) and one with smaller flowers (see 

 his Fig. 21 C); the latter appears to be protogynous to a some- 

 what lesser degree. Transitional forms occur. The relation in 

 length between the stamens and the pistils varies greatly ; in 

 flowers at the same stage of development, the stigmas may be 

 situated above the anthers (Fig. 25 D), or at a level with them 

 (Fig. 25 Б), or at a lower level (Fig. 25 C). In the flower 

 figured in Fig. 25 D, the styles are unusually long. 



Protandry is evidently rare. Ekstam observed it in Nova 



