62 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



the plant, the title granulata being bestowed on the 

 plant from this peculiarity of growth. The stems are 

 few in number and very simple in character, any branching 

 there may be being ordinarily of the very slightest 

 extent, and very frequently entirely absent until we 

 reach the divergent stems that bear the clustering 

 blossoms. The stems of the meadow saxifrage are 

 about a foot in height, and more or less covered with 

 short but closely-set hairs. This hirsute character is more 

 especially marked near the base of the stems : as we travel 

 upwards and near the blossoms the hairiness changes in 

 appearance somewhat, and becomes reddish in colour and 

 glandular in character. The stems look longer than they 

 really are on account of their bare appearance, the leaves 

 being only very sparsely placed on them, and by far the 

 greater part near the base, that part of the plant which, 

 amidst the general verdure of the hedge-bank, is least 

 striking. 



The meadow saxifrage seems to have but a very slight 

 attachment to the soil ; we have found time after time 

 that the gentle tug that we gave at the flower-heads 

 has sufficed to put us into possession of the whole plant. 

 The leaves which grow near the root spring from long 

 footstalks having broad and sheathing bases ; they are what 

 is termed botanically reniform or kidney-shaped, hairy, and 

 divided into numerous blunt-looking lobes. One of these 

 lower leaves we have plucked and introduced in our draw- 

 ing : it will readily be seen how different in character it is 

 to the stem-leaves that are also figured. The stems are 

 frequently reddish in colour, and very often most of the leaves 

 have a certain tinting of red on their margins. The upper 

 leaves are very small and few in number ; as they ascend 



