MEADOW 

 SAXIFRAGE. 



Saxifraga granulata. Nat, 

 Saxifragacete. 



Ord., 



EADOW saxifrage is abun- 

 dant in many parts of 

 Britain on hedge-banks and 

 in the meadows and pastures, 

 especially where the soil is 

 of a gravelly nature, though 

 some large districts of Eng- 

 land and Ireland are with- 

 out it, and in Scotland it 

 seems almost confined to the 

 southern half of the country. 

 The plant is a perennial. 

 The root-stock has adherent 

 to it a number of clustering, 

 subterranean bulbs and tubers ; these are of ten of a bright red 

 colour, though they are more or less covered with brownish- 

 white scales. When cut open they are found to be hard 

 and solid. Internally they are white in colour, and have an 

 astringent and disagreeable taste, a point that it may at 

 first sight appear no one would take the trouble to ascer- 

 tain ; but the plant, as we shall shortly see, enjoyed at one 

 time a considerable medicinal reputation, and it was on 

 these little granules, or bulbous bodies, that its efficacy was 

 supposed to depend. They give the specific name, too, to 



