SAXIFRAGACE.E. (SAXIFRAGE FAMILY.) 145 



4. SAXIFRAGA, L. SAXIFRAGE. 



Calvx free, or cohering with the base of the ovary, deeply 5-cleft. Petals 

 5, commonly deciduous. Stamens 10. Styles 2. Capsule 2-celled, 2-beaked, 

 opening between the beaks. Seeds numerous, smooth. Lowest leaves 



clustered. 



* Stems leaf i/. 



1. S. leucanthemifolia, Michx. Hairy and clammy; leaves spatulate, 

 coarselv toothed, tapering into a long winged petiole ; the upper ones linear ; 

 panicle diffuse ; petals clawed, unequal, white, the 3 larger ones spotted with 

 yellow. Mountains of North Carolina. July. Stem 10' - 20' high. 



* * Stems naked, scape-like. 



2. S. erosa, Pursh. Leaves oblong, tapering to the base, sharply toothed ; 

 scape clammy-pubescent ; panicle long, slender, loosely flowered ; sepals re- 

 flexed, nearly as long as the oval white petals; stigmas sessile. Shady 

 banks of streams on the mountains of North Carolina. July. Scape 1 -3 

 high. Leaves 8'- 12' long. 



3. S. Virginiensis, Michx. Pubescent ; leaves somewhat fleshy, obo- 

 vate, crenately toothed ; scape clammy ; panicle cymose, dense-flowered ; 

 sepals erect, not half as long as the oblong obtuse white petals ; styles short . 

 Rocks on the mountains of Georgia and Carolina. April -May. Scape 

 4' -12' high. 



4. S. Careyana, Gray. Smooth or pubescent ; leaves broadly ovate, 

 crenately or sharply toothed, abruptly contracted into a slender petiole ; 

 scape slender; panicle loosely flowered ; sepals spreading, half as long as the 

 lanceolate-oblong, white, faintly spotted petals ; filaments filiform. Moist 

 shady rocks, on the high mountains of North Carolina. June. Plant 6' 

 high. 



5. S. Caroliniana, Gray. Glandular-pubescent ; leaves all radical, del- 

 toid or ovate, coarsely toothed, abruptly contracted into a margined petiole; 

 bracts of the scape few; panicle diffuse; petals ovate, white, with 2 pale 

 spots below the middle, twice the length of the reflexed sepals ; filaments 

 club-shaped; carpels turgid, free from the calyx, at length widely spreading. 

 Damp shady places on the mountains of North Carolina. May -June. 

 Scape 6'- 12' high. 



5. ASTILBE, Hamilton. 



Flowers polygamo-dicecious. Calyx campanulate, 5-parted, nearly free from 

 the ovary. Petals 5, spatulate, withering-persistent. Stamens 10, exserted, 

 Styles 2. Capsule 2-celled, few-seeded. Seed-coat loose and thin. Perennial 

 herbs, with ternately compound leaves, and small yellowish white flowers, in 

 panicled racemes. 



1. A. decandra, Don. Stem 3 -5 high; leaves twice or thrice ter- 

 nately compound ; the leaflets mostly cordate-ovate, sharply lohed and toothed 

 Stigmas of the sterile flowers and the stamens and petals of the fertile ones 

 smaller or rudimentary. Banks of streams among the mountains of Georgia 

 and North Carolina. June -August. 



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